 In this filmed version of Flemish author Jef Gheeraerts  novel, Robert  Robbe  Parain, an arrogant Antwerp police detective who operates at the limits of illegality and is in personal debt, tenaciously traces but also gets personally entangled in the dark, ruthless, criminal sides of the publicly so glamorous trade in diamonds, notably in his native Antwerp, Hong Kong, Brussels and Congo.