Under a wide blue sky in a bright yellow rapeseed field, a young woman burns herself to death. Later, a former politician is found brutally murdered - killed with a single blow to the skull and scalped. Then a rich art dealer is killed in exactly the same way. As the vicious attacks increase, Wallander finds himself confronting the darkest aspects of society as he struggles to uncover the truth.

A taxi driver is brutally murdered by two young girls who seem to have no real motive for their actions. Elsewhere a man dies of a heart attack in the middle of Ystad's main square. When Wallander discovers that these two seemingly separate cases connect, they lead to one conspiracy that stretches far beyond the borders of Sweden.

Three teenagers are murdered on Midsummer's Eve, each with a bullet to the head; their bodies lie undiscovered for two months. As Wallander investigates, it becomes clear someone else has already been asking questions - Kalle Svedberg, one of Wallander's colleagues. But before Wallander can speak to him, Kalle is found dead in his flat, a bullet through his head.

Wallander investigates the brutal slaying of an elderly couple at an isolated farmhouse. A police leak of the wife's dying words leads to an outbreak of racist reprisals in Ystad. The fallout from the case leads Wallander to doubt everything, including his abilities as a police officer.

Kurt Wallander is contacted by an old friend who is certain his father has been murdered. Wallander refuses to get involved as he is suspended from the police, but subsequent events convince him that there is more to the case.

An elderly bird watcher falls to his death in a meticulously planned and brutal murder. In an apparently unconnected case a local man disappears and Wallander gets too close to one of the suspects. Wallander believes he is on the trail of a serial killer bent on revenge.