The year is 2071 AD. With the systematic collapse of the old nation-states, a mixed jumble of races and peoples were driven out of their terrestrial Eden and spread to the stars, taking with them the now confused concepts of justice, freedom, violence, and love. New rules were established, and a new generation of bounty hunters came into being. People referred to these bounty hunters as “cowboys.”

Meet Spike and Jet, a drifter and a retired cyborg cop who have started a bounty hunting partnership. In the converted ship The Bebop, Spike and Jet search the galaxy for criminals with bounties on their heads. They meet a lot of interesting characters, including the unusually intelligent dog Ein, the bizarre hacker child prodigy Ed, and the voluptuous and vexing femme fatale, Faye Valentine.