The newspaper refers to the body only as Victim 2117, but the death of this refugee in the Mediterranean Sea sets in motion a fateful plan. At Department Q, Copenhagen's cold cases division, Detective Carl Mørck finds this 8th case (following The Scarred Woman) is a deeply personal one. A tormentor from Saddam Hussein's Abu Ghraib intends this killing as the beginning of terrorist plot years in the making, while for Department Q's Assad, Victim 2117 is a link to his buried past and the family he assumed was long dead. The clock is ticking, and Assad, Carl, and Rose must hurry to save the lives of thousands of people.