Light Yagami is an outstanding student with great prospects, but he is bored. This changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami, a god of death. Any person whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has sworn to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. However, as criminals begin to drop dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to catch the murderer. Will Light lose sight of his noble goal or his life while L is on his trail?

Light tests the limits of the Death Note's powers as L and the police begin to pursue him. Fortunately, Light's father is the head of the Japanese National Police and leaves important information about the case lying around the house. With access to his father's files, Light can always stay one step ahead of the authorities. But who is the strange man following him, and how can Light prepare against enemies whose names he does not know?.