In a suburb north of New York City there is a cloistered monastery. The tranquility of the nuns is shattered when Sister Damian of Mary receives a grisly gift: three severed hands and three feet. Put in charge of the investigation is fifty-five-year-old Det. Eliaphus Daniel Janah. A Jew, he has a Kabbalistic background, studies Tai Chi Chuan, is skilled in the martial arts, and has recently separated from the wife he loves.