In the depths of a freakish winter, Rome is being torn apart by a serial killer dubbed The Carpenter intent on spreading fear and violence. Soon another woman is murdered - hammered to death and left with a cryptic message nailed to her chest. Maverick Detective Inspectors Rossi and Carrara are assigned to the investigation. But when Rossi's girlfriend is attacked - left in a coma in hospital - he becomes the killer's new obsession and his own past hurtles back to haunt him.