After losing his farm during the floods of 1953, a romantic Dutch farmer is tired of getting his socks wet. He cycles to Italy and decides to grow tulips in the sweltering heat of Puglia.

When Nico returns from overseas to say farewell to his ailing mother, he discovers something monstrous is happening in the small town he once called home. As the list of grizzly murder victims begins to grow and the authorities fear the killer is a beast unlike anything they have ever seen, Nico senses a savage transformation within himself and uncovers the terrifying secret his family could never reveal.