Kaiji Ito moves to Japan after graduating from high school. Unable to find a job and frustrated with society at large, Kaiji spends his days gambling, vandalizing cars and drinking booze. Two years later and his life no better, a debt collector named Endo arrives to collect money, offering two choices to Kaiji: spend 10 year paying off his loan or board a gambling boat for one night to repay his debt and possibly make a whole lot more.