In this historical thriller Pittsburgh detective Carmen Vitale is beside himself when his childhood sweetheart and the rest of her Jewish family are viciously murdered on the eve of Yom Kippur. Barred from participating in the case, Carmen vows to find the killer or killers, even though his own life may be in danger. After receiving an elaborate clue--an old journal written by a formal Nazi officer--Carmen follows a convoluted trail to the door of an idealistic psychiatrist and the suicidal young woman he is trying to protect. Is she the murderer or an unwitting pawn in some deadly game? Several corpses later, Carmen and the psychiatrist join forces to expose the true culprits.