In Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, a young Hannibal watches as his parents violently die, leaving his young sister in his care. Alone and without any means of support, he is forced to live in a Soviet orphanage. He flees to Paris to find his uncle has died but his Japanese widow, Lady Murasaki (Gong Li) welcomes him. Even her kindness and love cannot soothe the nightmares and sorrows that plague him. Showing a cunning aptitude for science he is accepted into medical school, which serves to hone his skills and provide the tools to exact justice on the war criminals that haunt him day and night. This quest will ignite an insatiable lust within a serial killer who was not born, but made.