Pierre Niemans is a noted French detective assigned to investigate a brutal murder at a prestigious college located high in the Alps; the victim was first disfigured and dismembered, then strangled to death. Niemans soon realizes the murder was not an isolated incident when several similarly mangled corpses are discovered. Meanwhile, in a town 150 miles away, a young police investigator, Max Kerkerian is called in to investigate when the grave of a ten-year-old girl is dug up and ransacked. While interviewing the mother of the young girl, he crosses paths with Niemans, whose investigation has led him to the same town, and the two men begin to realize a surprising and troubling link between the crimes.