Vicente Parra, examining magistrate of the Ertzaintza Basque police force, based in the old quarter of San Sebastian, is assigned two apparently very different cases. The fashion designer Elena Castaño has been savagely stabbed in her mansion and, although the evidence suggests burglary, it soon becomes clear that it is a personal crime disguised as an attack. The other case is the death due to kidney and liver failure of Cristian José, a university head porter. The young man's mother suspects that his death was not natural since she has found a large sum of money in his house and has recently been living well beyond his means. Vicente soon discovers that the suspects are all connected to the world of gastronomy, particularly when the autopsy clearly shows the causes of Cristian's death.