A hot summer day in July. The popular female handball player Kajsa Berg is on her way to the training center when she disappears without a trace.

Then, not long after, a forest fire breaks out. While clearing the area, the firemen stumble across the charred body of a male, chained to a tree. By his side is a dead cat, its front paws cut off.

And Kajsa stays missing. As the investigation uncovers layer upon layer of human misery and power abuse among those around her, William Wisting begins to feel as if he’ll never escape the darkness that he’s now diving into, head first.