After the execution of her father, the young and beautiful Lady Asano, who now calls herself Cat, is in grave danger: the powerful Lord Kira's campaign against her family is continuing and she must find Oishi, the leader of the fighting men of the Asano clan. Cat believes he is three hundred miles to the southwest in the imperial city of Kyoto.

Disguising her loveliness in the humble garments of a traveling priest, Cat begins her quest along the fabled Tokaido Road. All she has is her samurai training, her deadly, six-foot long naginata, and her quick wits. And she will need them all, for a ronin has been hired to pursue her, a mysterious man who will play a role in Cat's drama that neither could have ever imagined...