Amid the aroma of the sea and the Galician pines, a young saxophonist is found dead in his swanky flat overlooking the beach. The murder seems to have taken place after an encounter with a lover, but the way he was killed makes it impossible to obtain any more clues about his activities that night: his stomach, groin and thighs are burned and his genitals look hideously like a toasted cashew. Leo Caldas, a disheartened police officer still searching for his place in the world, takes on the case, as it slowly unfolds in the tense, affected atmosphere of affluent Vigo.