South Korea, 1974: A young Korean woman dressed in a traditional chima-jeogori is found strangled on the frozen banks of the Sonyu River with only a calligraphed poem in her sleeve. US Army Sergeants George Sueno and Ernie Bascom are called in to investigate. But all that George and Ernie are able to glean before being kicked out of town is that they are close to the truth - and that a mysterious smuggler, known locally as 'the Ville Rat', holds the key to the woman's murder...