The episode starts by introducing 14-year-old Ganta Igarashi as an average middle school student in Nagano, following the Great Tokyo Earthquake. Ganta is planning a class trip to Deadman Wonderland, a private, for-profit prison/amusement park where inmates perform dangerous, deadly feats for public entertainment.

Towards the end of the episode, Ganta is nearly killed by a falling obstacle. In a desperate surge of terror and rage, he discovers he can control his own blood, hardening it into a weapon-like form.

While trying to navigate this hell, Ganta encounters Shiro, a mysterious, white-haired girl who behaves in a child-like fashion and wears a body suit. She claims to know Ganta, acting very friendly and eccentric towards him.