In the Land of the Dead, the recently departed must undertake the Four Year Journey of the Soul to reach their final eternal rest. Those who led virtuous lives earn luxurious travel packages to ease the passage, the finest being the Number Nine, an express train that whisks its passengers to their destination in mere minutes, while the less deserving are left to make the long trek on their own. Manny Calavera works as a travel agent at the Department of Death in the city of El Marrow, grudgingly selling these journeys to work off a mysterious debt. Frustrated at being stuck with unworthy clients, Manny discovers that a pure-hearted new arrival named Mercedes "Meche" Colomar has been wrongly denied her rightful premium ticket. Digging into the injustice, he stumbles upon the first threads of a sprawling conspiracy.