A routine call regarding a burglary at an empty mansion leads cocky young police detective Jin Saeki to a gruesome and shocking discovery. The corpses of 13 children, along with the presence of a strange symbol, spur a manhunt for Juzo Haikawa, the mysterious absentee owner of the house. So begins an investigation (and an obsession) that will take Jin all over Japan and into the darkest recesses of both the past and the human soul.