Le Havre, France. The city’s at war as local mobsters and petty gangsters fight over territory, while the police do their best to put an end to the drug trafficking that holds sway over town. Set on a backdrop of social misery, the cases followed by dutiful Inspector Faraday and Paul Winckler, his former partner with completely opposite methods, combine gripping realism and riveting investigations.
A body is found in Bazza Swaty's swimming pool, and he tries to hide it. He stubbornly refuses to defend himself, and Captain Dardenne takes advantage of this to nail Bazza, instructing Faraday to go after him, while sidelining Winckler.
A young priest is killed in his rectory and his church is ransacked as if the killer was looking for something. Winckler and Faraday initially suspect some young delinquents the deceased priest was helping, but then an unidentified woman is found dead, marked in a strange way.