The series tells the story of Hanamichi Sakuragi, a teenager who falls in love with Haruko Akagi after being rejected by other fifty girls. However, as Haruko is in love with Kaede Rukawa, a popular basketball player, Sakuragi decides to enter the Shohoku High School basketball team to surpass Rukawa and make Haruko fall in love with him. As he starts learning how to play basketball in Shohoku, Sakuragi starts liking the sport and becomes determinated to be the best player. In the team, Sakuragi meets Haruko's older brother, Takenori Akagi, who is also Shohoku's captain, and two other player with a violent past which caused them to leave the sport some time ago, Ryota Miyagi, and Hisashi Mitsui. They, along with Rukawa, make Shohoku one of the strongest high school teams from Japan.