Upstream Color

Takes place at a hospital for the criminally insane - a forgotten institution hiding a mystery more dangerous than any patient or doctor could imagine.

Set in the Obstetrics and Gynecology department of a university hospital. Hiragi Nachi is a reserved obstetrician, who is in her fifth year of working as a C-section surgeon in the maternity ward of the hospital. Because of a traumatic incident, she follows a philosophy of preserving life and would never abandon her patients even if it means taking on high risks. One night, while working the graveyard shift, Nachi performs a risky emergency cesarean section. However, when the patient dies from severe blood loss, the woman's family files a lawsuit against Nachi claiming malpractice.

Tachibana Noboru, a 20-year-old aspiring doctor, lives for tomorrow. Leaving Dewa Province (present day Akita), he turns to an uncle Komaki Genan, who is a town doctor in Edo and gets a job as a doctor of Kodenmacho Prison at Genan's recommendation. The impressionable Noboru sees the suffering of people who live at the bottom of society as he gets involved in all sorts of incidents inside the prison and solves them with brilliant deductions and jujitsu skills. One night, he is informed that there is an emergency case. A prisoner, Katsuzo, who is due to be exiled to an island for housebreaking, is suffering from a stomachache. Noboru goes to the prison with grim determination. However, Katsuzo feigned his illness in order to lure him to the prison. Noboru is entrusted with a secret task by Katsuzo. It is to obtain his share of 10 ryo from the man who was the ringleader of the housebreaking and hand this money over to a woman called Omitsu in Fukagawa. Omitsu had pledged to be his wife. Sympathising with Katsuzo, Noboru accepts his request.