Gotfield invites Blacksad to a party at his luxurious coastal mansion along with twelve leftist intellectuals: Greenberg, a beat poet; the photographer Dora; the sculptor Klein; the actor Bill Ratcliff; the scriptwriter Jess Logan; the Russian painter Sergei Litvak; the accomplished chemist Laszlo Herzl; and Alma Mayer. After Blacksad grudgingly saves a drunken Gotfield from drowning, with the help of Otto's close friend Otero, Herzl angrily accuses Otto of promoting nuclear weapons. When Otero gets back home, he is killed by a mysterious assassin (a gavial). It seems he actually meant to kill Otto.