A male corpse is found on the beach of a small Irish village. Imminent doom is associated with the name of the dead man. The Tin Man, as he was known in the village, becomes synonymous with an outlaw.

After his mother's death, his son, Elliot O'Connor, who at the age of fourteen was sent to America to live with his uncle in foster care, returns home after twenty-five years as a pathologist for his father's funeral and is drawn into the maelstrom of events surrounding the crime against his father. The sad work of searching for traces of a crime on his father's dead body, without getting lost within the maelstrom of emotions, demands superhuman efforts from Elliot. It becomes a journey through time during which his life, lived up to that point, slips past him piece by piece.