A late summer night in 1990 a young pregnant woman is brutally murdered by being buried in the sand, to slowly become submerged by the tide. 25 years later, the sadistic murder remains unsolved. Olivia Rönning receives the task of studying the case as a cold case exercise at the Police Academy. Olivia becomes almost obsessed with the murder when she discovers that her father previously worked with the investigation. She quickly realizes that she must get a hold of the principal investigator, detective Tom Stilton, but he seems to have disappeared from the face of the Earth.

The young and idealistic priest Albin returns to Sweden from Kenya to work in a church in the small village Östra Nöbberup. Albin want to renew the work of the parish and tries to attract visitors to church with controversial methods. This is not appreciated by the other members of the parish, especially not by the curate Jan Samuelsson who wants Albins job as a priest.