The first season of Mortal Kombat Legacy is a prequel to the original game, explaining the background stories of several characters from the series and demonstrating their reasons for participating in the upcoming tenth Mortal Kombat tournament on which the first game was based.

Thanasis, a cotton candy vendor from Athens, has been caring for little Melissa since she was a baby when her mother, an immigrant prostitute, thought it best to leave the girl behind while seeking fortune in America. Her unexpected appearance five years later has traumatic consequences when she takes her child away from Thanasis and leaves. Thanasis decides to travel to America in the hope of seeing her again.