Corso Bramard lives in the mountains not far outside Turin. A former police inspector, he has kept out of the public eye for twenty years following the brutal killings of his wife and daughter. Periodically, the at-large murderer taunts Bramard, sending him letters containing snippets of song lyrics by Leonard Cohen. Bramard keeps them all, and spends his days haunted by twin obsessions: one, to find the man who destroyed his life, and the other, to end his own life altogether.

Until the day he receives the killer's latest communication, and everything changes--the murderer may have finally made a mistake, giving Bramard a vital clue about where to being the hunt. Aided by his former colleagues and by Isa, an unusual cop with a highly unorthodox style, Corso sets out to catch his monster at last.