The news that the Molotov cocktails found at the Diaz High School during the G8 were placed there by the Genoa police to justify their invasion of the building is the last straw that breaks the camel's back and leads Montalbano to decide to resign from the police force...
The morning dive, which initially functions as a blessing and relieves his body from bad thoughts, reserves another unpleasant surprise for him within the same week... The foot that touched his in the water is a dead man's foot...
The political events, the tactics employed by the police to suppress the protests, the state's attitude towards immigrants: all seemed to conspire to further worsen his already poor mental state. Perhaps he couldn't keep up with the developments, perhaps he had already been left behind, but the thought that the body of the unknown man floating on the surface of the sea would likely remain there, without ever finding and convicting the culprit, disturbed him even more.
For the policeman, this encounter with the unknown dead man was a challenge, the reason that made him postpone his resignation, but at the same time led him down the difficult and dangerous path of a dual investigation. Two cases with a "parallel course", two lines that, although destined to meet somewhere, stubbornly refuse to do so: something mysterious and worrisome prevents the puzzle pieces from falling into their proper place...