When a previously unknown Modigliani painting is discovered, a more than a century old enigma suddenly reappears. Between the mysterious identity of the model who inspired the painter in the early 20^th century and the recently discovered body of an art forger, a whole world of dissimulation and crime is gradually revealed.

The body of a well-known art forger has been found hanged in a dump in the Val de Marne region, outside of Paris, shortly after he was released from jail. The victim had been dipped in boiling water, a punishment reserved for those who sold forged artwork during France’s Ancien Régime. The case is assigned to Paris’s Criminal Division, led by Commander Vicaux.

At the same time, Anne, an art historian specialized in recovering art stolen by the Nazis during World War II, learns that a previously unknown Modigliani painting is about to be sold at auction. It is of a young woman, Aliza. Who is she? What were the conditions in which the painting was made? Anne’s research draws us back a century, to 1918, when the Italian painter was hanging out in Bohemian Parisian bistros in search of new models…

At first glance, there’s no connection between the two investigations.  But when a Modigliani expert, a woman who is a former colleague of Anne’s, is murdered on the banks of the Marne, the commander and the art historian – an atypical and antinomic duo — wind up unraveling the intertwined thread connecting these mysterious cases. Because the most murderous intentions may be hiding behind the beauty of the most famous paintings…