Everybody's life is riddled with secrets ...Maciej Bartol, police detective, casts a large shadow over those around him, although in truth his mother always seems to have the last word. Bartol has been called to investigate two very different death scenes - an art restorer in the most prominent part of Poznan, and a man who runs a homeless shelter. Are the killings linked? What is the meaning of the strange clues left by the killer? Soon the desperate Bartol finds himself asking for help from specialist on Christian symbolism, a woman who isn't too happy to waste her time on a police investigation...