The dead man was a drunk; a regular on the park benches of Gotland's city centre. Winter is a quiet time for Chief Inspector Anders Knutas and Detective Karin Jacobsson; the tourists tend to take the violent crimes with them back to the mainland. To keep their lives simple, they are tempted to assume that the victim died as a result of a drunken brawl. But all of the clues point to something far more sinister.