Manila, 2010. Samuel Reyes guards an office lobby for a living. His eleven-year-old daughter Jasmine irons her own uniform because he does it badly, and she does not miss school. Then one morning the school calls to say she never came in, and the only lead is three girls at the gate with a story about a tall, balding man in black, dark glasses, and a van.
His oldest friend — a private investigator in a wheelchair who has been chasing that man for five months — gives him the rest. A dockside warehouse where children are moved in shipping containers. A car dealership that fronts the money. And a family called Angkan ng Buwaya: the Crocodile Clan, three generations of it.
Part One is one day long. One man goes in. Nothing after that is clean.