9 CE. Rome’s celebrated love poet Ovid finds himself in exile, courtesy of an irate Emperor, in the far-flung town of Tomis. Appalled at being banished to a barbarous region at the very edge of the Empire, Ovid soon discovers that he has a far more urgent – and potentially perilous – issue to address. A killer is at large in Tomis. Somebody is slaughtering animals in a parody of ritual, and the Governor’s advisor Marcus Avitius is under pressure to apprehend the perpetrator. It seems that Ovid has an inexplicable link to the murderer too, with his poetry providing the timetable by which the killer works. After a secret visit from the elite Praetorian Guard, Ovid realises he is in mortal danger in Tomis – and he isn’t allowed to leave.