After graduating from China's top police college, Lu Fei has been assigned to a sleepy backwater town in northern China, where almost nothing happens—that is, until a young woman is found dead, her organs removed, and joss paper stuffed in her mouth. Beijing's police aren't concerned with the murder of an insignificant village girl, and want to pin the crime on the first available suspect. As Lu makes his first investigation, he finds himself facing old enemies and creating new ones in the form of local Communist Party bosses and corrupt businessmen. But even as Lu contends with these challenges, the closer he gets to the heart of the mystery, the more he puts himself and his loved ones in danger.