Partially based on “The Gathering” in the Tomie manga. A young man with a past begins work in a factory, where he attracts the amorous attention of a mysterious woman who lurks behind the scenes. He is a relatively unique young man, perhaps a genetic one-off, in that he feels no particular attraction to Tomie. This of course intrigues Tomie, and she begins to become obsessed with him. Soon, he is caught in a vicious struggle between two rival Tomies. And neither Tomie will die.

The story follows a trio of Japanese youths of Chinese descent who escape their semi-rural upbringing and relocate to Shinjuku, Tokyo, where they befriend a troubled Shanghai prostitute and fall foul of a local crime syndicate. Like many of Miike’s works, the film examines the underbelly of respectable Japanese society and the problems of assimilation faced by non-ethnically Japanese people in Japan.