Erica Falck, a successful crime writer and mother of three, moved with her husband and children from the city to her hometown of Fjällbacka, a fishing village on a picturesque island off the coast of Sweden. Her return seems idyllic, but simmering beneath the village's surface lie hidden secrets, twisted desires and deceit waiting to erupt into the ultimate sin - murder.

When police officer Johanna Strand returns to her hometown Hammarvik to attend her mother's funeral, she expects to stay only for a few nights but the body of a young woman is found and she decides to stay and investigate what happened.