Writer Harry Block draws inspiration from people he knows, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated from him as a result.

In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.

Franco Armando - code name Beretta - is forced out of retirement to avenge the cold-blooded murder of a cop. The killer's trail leads to Franco's hometown on the beautiful island of Sardinia, where drugs are turning the peaceful village into a hell hole. The sinister druglord has a sadistic welcome for Franco: the kidnapping of his best friend's beautiful daughter.