The day gets off to a bad start for Inspector Montalbano: while trying to break up a fight, he hits the wrong man and is stopped by the Carabinieri. When he finally gets to the office, Montalbano learns about a woman who was abducted, drugged, and then released unharmed. Within a few days, the same thing happens again; both women are 30 years old and work in a bank. While undertaking his 23rd investigation (following The Pyramid of Mud), Montalbano also has to deal with the disappearance of a man whose store burned down, but a third abduction—yet again of a girl who works in a bank—and the discovery of a body bring up new questions.