A recovering drug addict, Katrine Bratterud, is almost finished with her time in rehab. One evening, contemplating her success at the shore of a lake, she senses that she is not alone.

The discovery of Katrine's corpse the following day brings detectives Frølich and Gunnarstranda onto the case and into a web of secrets and lies that stretches back generations.

K.O. Dahl weaves an intricate plot, juxtaposing the selfdelusion of drug addicts with the more complex self-delusions of the well-respected middle-class people treating them. Like Henning Mankell, Dahl manages to merge the suspense of the classical whodunit with the detailed precision of the police procedural novel.