Sebastian Bergman used to be the most hired criminal psychologist and profiler of the police force. After losing both his wife and daughter in the South-East Asian tsunami he is just a fragment of his former self. He leads a self-destructive life without work, friend and family. Sebastian visits his old home-town to take care of his childhood home after the demise of his mother. He convinces his former colleague, Torkel Höglund, of the National Bureau of Investigation, temporarily on location investigating the murder of a boy, to get him working for the police force again.

Criminal psychologist Sebastian bergman managed to turn himself into a persona non grata as part of the team at the National Bureau of Investigations (NBI). He gets drawn back when NBI is trying to solve a series of brutal murders on women. The modus operandi is reminiscent of the deeds by a serial killer that Sebastian helped to catch 10 years earlier. Also, all the murdered women appears to have been former girlfriends of Sebastian.

In a silver mine in Ludivika, three girls are found dead. Everything seems to point to a collective suicide. Once Bergman learns that the investigation has been completed by the police following the advice of psychologist Riddarstolpe, he decides to go to the crime scene himself. There Bergman stumbles upon an important clue that the girls in all likelihood had help ending their lives.

Vanja's father dies, while Sebastian is forced to follow the group to Skåne to solve an old case. Ludvig Mattisson was known for abducting and murdering mentally disabled children. Now Mattisson himself has been found murdered. Not far away, a little girl is found dead. Could Mattisson have killed the girl before he himself was murdered? And who was behind Mattisson's murder?