One misty autumn morning in a quiet fishing port in northwest Spain, the body of a drowned sailor, his hands tied, washes up in the harbour. Detective Inspector Leo Caldas is called in from police headquarters in the nearby city of Vigo to sign off on what appears to be a suicide. But details soon come to light that turn this routine matter into a complex murder investigation. Finding out the truth is not easy when the villagers are, in typically Galician fashion, so suspicious of outsiders and so sparing with their words. As Caldas delves into the mysterious maritime life of the village, he uncovers a disturbing decade-old case of a shipwreck, a drowning and the disappearance of a local woman - and a story of violence, blackmail and revenge¿