Light Yagami is at the head of his class, and he's bored out of his mind. That all changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook that allows him to control the equally bored rogue Death God Ryuk; simply by writing down the name of the person he wants dead, Light can kill anyone at will without getting caught. He immediately starts work killing off all the world's dangerous criminals, but the cops are hot on his trail; after all, he's a mass murderer! When the enigmatic and seemingly unstoppable detective L goes after Light, the result is a deadly battle of wits!
