By the will of her dead uncle who was murdered Sandra Paoli is propelled to the head of a powerful mafia clan. She becomes a respected, but also hated, woman in a world of men, murder and criminality.

The body of a shady businessman is found on the jetty in the port of Toga, in Bastia. The investigation, Commander Gabrielle Monti's first since returning to the country, begins on a tightrope between the past and the present.