Charles Prentice, a popular travel writer, is forced to postpone a trip to yet another exotic country and urgently fly to the Spanish Mediterranean to rescue his brother, who runs a sports club in the resort town of Estrella de Mar, from prison. But upon arrival, it turns out that Frank Prentice is accused not of bribery or tax evasion, but of the brutal murder of five people; and the strangest thing is that he does not deny his guilt. Burning with the desire to get to the bottom of the truth, Charles plunges into a labyrinth of lies and omissions, petty crime and holiday vices, schizophrenia and conspiracy theories...