A little girl is found murdered in the county of Ratapoilopolis. The devastated population demands justice and calls for the death penalty to be re-introduced. After weeks of fruitless investigation, the tension mounts and self-defense groups begin to form. The political authorities, "anxious to preserve public order", demand that the police find a culprit.
Unemployed immigrant Anatoli Libinski, a violent, broken man, has it all it takes to become an ideal scapegoat… right down to his fake snakeskin jacket, which a witness formally identifies.
