Kurt returns to work after a temporarly suspention. At the same time a girl disappeares which draws in the entire Ystad police and military looking frantically for her. When Kurt starts to work on the case, he begins to see similarities to a case he worked on ten years earlier, which hit him very personally.

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.

Kurt Wallander has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, but has a hard time accepting it and are therefore trying to keep it a secret for the surroundings. At the same time an arsonist who has served his sentence is freed from prison.

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.