When Bergþora Ulfsdottir, Helgi's ex-girlfriend, is found dead in her home just before Christmas, Helgi is brought onto the case-but this time, he's a suspect of her murder, given his complicated relationship with Bergþora. The timing is suspicious: just before her own death, Bergþora fatally hit Helgi's new girlfriend, Anita, with her car, ruining the future he'd hoped to build with her.

Meanwhile, Helgi has also been looking into the disappearance of Hulda Hermannsdottir; the woman who'd held his office before him supposedly died of suicide but Helgi remains unconvinced.

As he digs into this old case, it begins to seem as though Hulda's disappearance has more layers-layers that draw connections between Bergþora's and Anita's deaths and Hulda's disappearance.