Lu Fei is a graduate of China's top police college, but he's been assigned to a sleepy backwater town in northern Chine where almost nothing happens and theft of a few chickens represents a major crime wave. That is until a young woman is found dead, her organs removed, with joss paper stuffed in her mouth. The CID in Beijing—headed by a rising political star—is on the case but, in an increasingly authoritarian China, prosperity and political stability are far more important than solving the murder of an insignificant village girl. As such, the CID head is interested in pinning the crime on the first available suspect rather wading into uncomfortable truths, leaving Lu on his own. As he digs deeper into the gruesome murder, Lu finds himself facing old enemies and creating new ones in the form of local Communist Party bosses and corrupt business interests. Despite these rising obstacles, Lu remains determined to find the real killer, especially after he links the murder to other homicides. But the closer he gets to the heart of the mystery, the more he puts himself and his loved ones in danger.