Paolo, a former fencer, works as a sports journalist for a small newspaper. When his friend Franz—once a fencing champion and now a businessman—dies of a heart attack, Paolo discovers, almost by chance, that the deceased’s life was not as spotless as he had believed. In his quest for the truth, Paolo enters a world unfamiliar to him: the tanning industry of the wealthy Northeast. A meeting with Leo, a boy with autism, marks a turning point in the investigation.