Robert Klein is 蛇氣looking for his step-brother, Emanuel, whom he has met only once. Robert visits two companies that have dispatched his brother somewhere in Europe – a Japanese firm that hunts eels and a US trust that conducts illegal probing for methane-mining operations. Robert finds out that his step-brother is successful, and his work is raising doubts among his employers. He decides to follow Emanuel’s trail but is not entirely sure why is he undertaking the trip. He travels through swamp country, picking up clues about his brother's activity. He discovers that his name provokes fear in certain people, ill will in others, and even veneration in some. He then finds out that Emanuel has surrounded himself with a posse of illegal African refugees who are aiding him in his eel-hunting and geological probing.