It's been six months since Rachel Siprien disappeared. At the request of Rachel's mother, private detective François takes over the investigation.
The young woman's personality, complex and multi-faced, is part of a strange network made-up of her best friend Clarisse, her ex-boyfriend, her stepfather, her neigbours and everyone who knowns her well or even sightly.
François begins to frequent these various friends and acquaintances, and penetrates Rachel's daytime and noctural habitat. He spies, asks disturbing questions, and fills in the blanks intentionally left by those he questions.
His private life, already well complicated by an ex-wife and a mistress with a jealous husband, becomes more complicated by an affair with Clarisse and by problematic relations wih the police when Rachel's body is found.
François takes the blows, dishes some out and little by little puts together a picture of the real Rachel Siprien. "Disappear means being eternally reborn".