A young girl is missing, and her boyfriend dead. Police inspector Hedda Hersoug is back in her birthplace to live a quite life, but is forced to work with the solitaire superintendent Joel Dreyer hunting down a serial killer.

Ten years after the Black Death devastated the country, a poor family sets out on a journey to search for better living conditions. In a deserted mountain pass, they are attacked by a gang of ruthless killer thieves. The only one spared is 19 year old Signe. She is taken prisoner, and the gang brings her back to their camp. Here, she soon learns that they have a fate worse than death in store for her, and realises that her only hope is to escape.