A blue car is parked by a side road in the beautiful landscape of Skåne in southern Sweden. A child sits alone without an adult in sight. The child's father has been reported as missing, while the mother is in a psychiatric institution, unresponsive and apathetic. Kurt Wallander's failing health sees Linda take the lead in the case. It will touch her deeply as she discovers that the child has been unscrupulously tricked, exploited and humiliated.

Arson is suspected when a house burns to the ground following a gas explosion and a man and a woman are found dead. Wallander and the Ystad police investigate and uncover an intricate web of lies, betrayal and secret love affairs.

A young woman arrives at the Ystad police station to report her mother missing. Soon afterward the mother is found near the family home. Ystad police end up in a situation that constantly stirs up new topics, while police suspect that the father is the culprit. On a personal level Martinsson becomes increasingly worried about Kurt as he is starting to get more and more problems with his memory.

It's almost Christmas and Kurt is troubled by his memory disease. He realizes that it will soon be necessary to tell his colleagues and the rest of the world that he is sick. But he finds it difficult to give up his job, his only identity. In Ystad, there is a brutal kidnapping of a famous restaurateur, Paolo Salino. Kurt takes on the case but is forced to enlist the help of his colleague Jenny from the police in Malmö.