Set in postwar Japan (1947), the story follows Koichi Shikishima, a failed Kamikaze pilot suffering from immense survivor's guilt. Just as he begins to find hope and a makeshift family with a local woman and an orphaned baby, a giant monster, Godzilla, emerges to terrorize a Japan that has been stripped of its military defenses ("Minus One" refers to Japan being at less than zero—no military, no hope, no morale).