Jean-François Barbieri, a former member of the Marseille narcotics brigade, is an old-fashioned cop. In the Phocaean city, he knew the game of tontons and informers. But it was in 1996 that the investigation of his life began for him, the Topaze affair. He set off in pursuit of the former members of the French Connection who were preparing a major coup between South America, Spain and the south of France.