In a quiet village surrounded by the imposing Italian Alps, a series of violent assaults take place.

Police inspector and profiler Teresa Battaglia is called in when the first body is found, a naked man whose face has been disfigured and eyes gouged out. Soon more victims are discovered - all horrifically mutilated - and when a new-born baby is kidnapped, Teresa's investigation becomes a race against the clock.

But Teresa is also fighting a battle against her own body, weighed down by age and diabetes, and her mind, once invincible and now slowly gnawing away at her memory...