Lena Sundman, a rude and often dysfunctional young woman, is found brutally murdered on an island near Stockholm – a haunt of wealthy retirees and artistic weekenders. Taking refuge on a neighbouring island after the sudden death of his wife, Dan Byrne found himself strangely drawn to the troubled girl, starting from the moment he reluctantly rescues her in the teeth of a gathering snowstorm. Suspicion falls first on a family of Iraqi refugees, initially welcomed into the community but gradually feared and shunned. But then, as the victim's story unfolds, suspicion begins inexorably to fall elsewhere.