In Medicine Creek, a sleepy Kansas town whose main street is two blocks of old, dust-covered establishments, an unusual and brutal murder has been committed. The mutilated body of the victim is neatly placed in the center of a complex still life, written out in the middle of endless corn fields. Arriving at the crime scene, Pendergast, an intelligent and confident FBI agent with a cold look, understands: in search of a killer, he will have to turn upside down the life of the inhabitants of the entire town, since only one of them can be a criminal.