Former Inspector for the Moscow Militsiya, Arkady Renko, is summoned to Cuba to identify a liquefying corpse, dragged from the oily waters of Havana Bay.

Renko finds himself in a decaying country, the final recess of Communism - a place where Russia is despised, exotic rituals take precedence and unexpected danger meets bewildering contradictions.

After a harrowing experience that has left Renko on the verge of suicide, this new mystery leads him on a trail of deceit that reaches international proportions, and gives him a reason to relish his own life again.