When Madame Duclos employs Pascale Tourret to help her to save her daughter from a life of crime, the investigation takes Pascale from his home in the Lot region of France to the busy streets of Paris. There, he encounters the activities of the underworld and particularly of Maurice Gautier, a man with no scruples. Deeply entrenched into the drug cartel, Gautier is producing bad methamphetamine that is hitting the streets of Paris with regularity and killing college kids. On top of that, his organization are also importing cocaine from Colombia. Piecing together the movements of cartel is complex and takes Pascal through the streets of Paris but he is aided by his old colleague from the police department, who is happy to supply him with information to help in the investigation. With no witness protection program available, how will Pascale get witnesses? How will he overcome the constraints of French law and gain sufficient evidence to put Gautier away? The story follows the progress of his inquiry.