The morning after a gruelling group therapy session, Henry Talek is found dead, a roasting spit stuck in his eye. The case lands on the desk of Warsaw prosecutor Teodor Szacki. World-weary and suffering from bureaucratic exhaustion and marital ennui, Szacki feels that life has passed him by. But things are about to change, as his search for the killer unearths another murder that took place 20 years ago, before the fall of Communism. And why is the Secret Police taking such an intense interest in this particular case?