“Johnny Mnemonic” is set in an ultra-high-tech, near-future metropolis in which data is closely guarded by both legal and criminal organizations. The protagonist, Johnny, is a data trafficker whose job is essentially to be an information mule. Clients store information within him by cybernetically placing him into a hypnotic state. He delivers the information to the recipient, securely and without knowing what the data is about.

Johnny goes to a bar in search of a client, Ralfi Face. Ralfi owes Johnny money and has sent a hit man after him, so Johnny still has not delivered the data to him. Johnny finds Ralfi and his imposing bodyguard in a bar. As Ralfi and Johnny begin to discuss the disputed transaction, the bodyguard stuns Johnny with a “neural disruptor.” Ralfi tells him that the data was stolen from the Japanese crime organization known as the Yakuza.

At that moment, a cyborg named Molly Millions walks to their table. She offers to sell Ralfi “some good free base” (5), but when the bodyguard moves to attack, she cuts his wrists using razorblades embedded in her fingertips. She also takes the stun device and unfreezes Johnny. Ralfi offers to pay her off, but Johnny instead hires her as his own bodyguard.