1830, West Point, US Military Academy. One October evening, cadet Leroy Frye is found hanged. The event is extremely bad, but still not beyond comprehension. Until someone steals Fry's corpse and cuts out his heart, opening his chest with deep knowledge of the matter... The leadership of the academy turns for help to Augustus Landor, who lives nearby, a retired New York detective, whose ability to read people is legendary. Scouring West Point in search of clues, Landor unexpectedly finds himself an intelligent assistant in the person of one cadet. He is emotionally unstable, painfully proud, professes strange ideas and is the embodiment of disciplinary violations. But he has extensive knowledge, amazing intuition, non-standard logic and a keen eye.