The body of a teenage girl is found in the forest near the rural village of Manscheid, deep in the North of Luxembourg. Luc Capitani, a gruff detective from the South of the country, is put in charge of the case. Having trouble navigating the closed, communal and protective mentality of the northerners, Capitani finds himself unwillingly dependent on the help of Elsa Ley, a young and intrepid local policewoman. The officers quickly find themselves entangled in a web of secrets and lies.

Isabelle is a famous and beloved actress from the Netherlands, who disappears when on Holiday in Belgium. She has been kidnapped by bartender Jeanne Bitor, an artist with a disfigured face. Jeanne is very bitter about her ‘ugly’ appearance, and she is obsessed with the process of dying and deterioration of animals and humans. Therefore, she abducts Isabelle and starves her to death, while painting her in different phases of the process.