As the city of Cannes prepares for the annual film festival, a horrific discovery is made. The latest in a series of mutilated bodies is found on the seafront and the newly arrived young juge d'instruction (examining magistrate), Cecile Galant, finds herself in charge of an unpleasant and complicated investigation. Meanwhile, at his flat in London, Charlie Cashel receives an anonymous package which galvanises him into action - a roll of undeveloped film, postmarked "Cannes". Three months earlier his half-sister was murdered there and her killer never found. The developed film shows only one photograph: a painting of a cemetery in the south of France. Determined to uncover some answers, Charlie heads back to France and straight back into the danger zone...