Janek Mitter stumbles into his bathroom one morning after a night of heavy drinking to find his beautiful young wife, Eva, floating dead in the bath, brutally murdered. Yet during his trial Mitter cannot summon a single memory of attacking Eva, nor a clue as to who could have killed her if he didn't. Only once he has been convicted and locked away in an asylum does he have a snatch of insight. Drawing a blank after exhaustive interviews, Chief Inspector Van Veeteren remains convinced that someone in the dead woman's life caused these tragic events. But the reasons for her speedy remarriage have died with her. And as he delves deeper, Van Veeteren realises the past never stops haunting the present...