Commissario Guido Brunetti's hopes of escaping the sweltering heat of Venice in August for a refreshing family holiday in the mountains are dashed when a gruesome discovery is made in a field in Marghera: a body so badly beaten the face is completely unrecognizable. Brunetti searches Venice, including the red light district, for someone who can identify the corpse, but he is met with a wall of silence. Then he receives a phone call promising tantalizing information, provided he meets with the caller under a bridge outside town in the middle of the night. This dangerous rendezvous could help him uncover the truth, but before the night is out, Brunetti is confronting another appalling and senseless death.