One day in October, William Wisting is informed that Erik Kaplin is being released. Kaplin has served 18 years for murder and has drawn up a death list of those he holds responsible for his conviction. At the top of that list is Wisting’s name.

At the same time, Wisting is given responsibility for his grandchild, as his daughter Line travels to South Africa to create a podcast about a little-known chapter in the past of Adrian Stiller, the new head of the Cold Case Unit at Kripos. His high school sweetheart, Julia Delcourt, vanished many years ago without a trace. Line wants to revisit the story to understand what really happened, and to learn what drives Stiller to devote his life to solving cold cases.

As Wisting tries to maintain a normal life while looking after his grandchild, his former boss suddenly dies. What initially appears to be a natural death turns out to have links to an old missing person case — one that now lies on Stiller’s desk.

As secrets come to light, new and old threads begin to intertwine. And at the center of it all stands Wisting, burdened with a responsibility he never asked for, but cannot walk away from.