Strung around the idea of reincarnation, this film goes back in time to the days of the Spanish galleons and pirates burying their treasure; treasure to be found centuries later.
The story opens with Buck as a puppy, being ushered into a happy family as a Christmas present for a little girl. He grows up a faithful and loving friend of the children until one day he is stolen and sold as a sled dog in the Klondike. Here, under cruel treatment, he learns many lessons and develops a keen dislike to the man who stole him and clubbed him into submission. One experience follows another for Buck until he finds a real friend in his last master to whom he proves his faithfulness in the climax.
Seeking to atone for his violent past, Zatoichi (Katsu) embarks on a pilgrimage to visit the 88 shrines on Shikoku. On the road, a man (Igawa) attacks Zatoichi but is killed by him. Zatoichi follows the man's horse back to his home.
In a rural village, Zatoichi (Katsu) encounters Shushi Ohara (Suzuki; modeled after 18th-century agriculturalist Yagaku Ohara) a sword-less ronin who defends himself against multiple attackers without killing them. Ohara leads a peasant movement advocating the abstention from gambling, drinking, and whoring.