The mountains above Madrid, July 1936. Inspector Paco Ruiz stands before a Nationalist firing squad thinking his last moment has come. But just before the order to shoot, he is reprieved by the machiavellian Major Gomez. Gomez explains that someone has shot the general’s dog, and it will take an experienced detective to get to the bottom of it.
Paco is outraged. When human life is worth so little, he refuses to dignify the death of an animal with an investigation. But Gomez holds something which Paco values more than his own life, and the detective realizes he has no choice but to co-operate.
Despite himself, the case begins to intrigue Paco, but even he cannot guess that two people will be murdered before he discovers the real reason the dog had to die…