Morena Galbiati, married to the heir of a Bolognese family of industrialists, disappears in a wake of blood. The case is assigned to the Galbiati’s neighbour, deputy prosecutor Mara Mattei. Mara was a front-line magistrate in the fight against corruption and terrorism, but now, after a love story gone wrong, she drowns her pain in gin. Often drunk, she picks up sex partners and is accumulating a series of errors in court. Her boss, chief prosecutor Zaira Zanardi, is keeping a close watch on her. The investigation of young Mrs. Galbiati’s disappearance becomes a chance for Mara to redeem herself and the first step is dissecting the emotional bond between sensual Morena and her colourless husband. Engineer Gabrio Galbiati who is convinced his wife was kidnapped by aliens: he becomes the main suspect, but the inheritance he’s just gotten makes him a target for the occult powers of the city intent on maintaining their supremacy between Masonic lodges and transversal agreements. The documents sequestered from the Galbiati home also become the basis for another, parallel, investigation about the birth and death of love and the relationship between lovers. A dialectic that fatally involves all the characters in the story. Mara has an unrequited love for Alessandro, a lawyer involved in very shady affairs. And Mingozzi, the Carabinieri officer assisting Mara in the investigation, loves Mara unrequitedly. Each couple is a ring opened towards the outside. Each love is an imperfect crime in search of a guilty party, a trial, a punishment. Then, new and unexpected balances offer the most effective remedy for the destructive passion that flagellates the novel’s protagonists. The surprising solution of the crime goes hand in hand with the temporary but happy solution of the amorous conflict.