Georges Miet writes made-to-order mass-market stories for the French publishing house La Fortune, until one day his editor asks him for a 'serious' novel about the tragic events that shook the vibrant city of Biarritz fifteen years before, in 1925, during the summer season. The body of a local young woman was found tied to a mooring ring in the docks. Georges Miet goes to Biarritz and interviews some thirty people of different social classes who were more or less directly involved with the young woman. Through their stories, Miet discovers that the police and the judge wanted to cover up the case and that the events came to light thanks to the investigation the journalist Paul Villequeau and the photographer Galet carried out at the time, with the collaboration of the beautiful Beatrix Ross, Villequeau's teenage love.