Lulu, a transsexual prostitute, has been found brutally murdered and dismembered in a park in Florence, Italy. Nobody wants this difficult murder case, especially not Marshal Guarnaccia. Forced to move into an alien, shadowy city of which he knows little and understands less, the marshal faces his greatest challenge. Although an arrest is made after only a few days, he can't believe that the hot-tempered, unbalanced suspect could have planned and perpetrated such a cold-blooded and complicated murder. But the marshal must confront he Public Prosecutor and battle with his own prejudices before he can discover the startling answer.