A young pregnant woman is buried in the sand, so that she slowly drowns as the tide rises. Twenty-five years later, the case remains unsolved. Olivia Rönning is assigned the case to work on, as cold-case training at the police academy.

Olivia is totally engrossed in the Beach Case, but doesn't have any luck finding Tom Stilton. She goes to Nordkoster island to visit the scene of the murder.

Stilton finds his friend Vera severely beaten and is devastated. Olivia receives information about a former escort, Jackie Berglund, in connection with the Beach Case.

Olivia continues to look for information about Jackie Berglund, but goes a little too far when she visits Jackie's store, Odd & Right. Jackie has already heard that a young woman has been digging around in her past.

Children find a car in the water where they are swimming. Inside the car is a dead man. Stilton's old colleague and ally, Mette Olsäter, takes the case and quickly starts a murder investigation.

Olivia finally gets in contact with the man who witnessed the beach murder as a child, Ove Gardman.The police manage to get Nils Wendt's mobile phone working and find that his last call was to Linn Magnusson.