1989. When a Swedish civil servant is murdered, the two leading detectives on the case, Anna Holt and Bo Jarnebring, find their investigation hastily shelved by an incompetent and corrupt senior investigator. 1999. Lars Johansson, having just joined the Swedish Security Police, decides to tie up a few loose ends left behind by his predecessor. Johansson reopens the investigation and, with help from detectives Jarnebring and Holt, follows the leads - right up to the doorstep of Sweden's newly minted minister of justice.