To Chief Inspector Evariste Clovis Desire Pel, autumn in Burgundy is an unsettling time full of signs and portents. The sign is the discovery of a "floater" - a dead man in the canal. The portent is the arrival of a probationary police officer called Anne-Marie. A strange, possibly symbolic drawing is found in the saturated wallet of the "floater," a small-time crook who was dead from bullet wounds before he hit the water.

From such small beginnings comes an explosion of criminal activity that challenges the gloomy chief inspector more than ever before. The major crimes happen at almost the same moment: a hostage drama at the Banque Credit Rural, where not only millions in francs and jewelry are at stake, but lives as well. And on the other side of the sleepy French town, a beautiful young art student casually switches masterpieces for copies.