Superintendent Taleb, coasting towards retirement, is handed a ticking time bomb of a case which will take him deep into Algeria's troubled past and its fraught relationship with France. To his dismay, he is assigned to work with Agent Hidouchi, an intimidating representative of the country's feared secret service. They are instructed to pursue a former agent, now on the run after 20 years in prison for his part in a high-level corruption scandal. But their search will lead them inexorably towards a greater mystery, surrounding a murder that took place in Paris more than fifty years ago. Before long, Taleb will face a choice he has long sought to avoid, between self-preservation and doing the right thing. And, ultimately, the choice may not even be his to make.