The Reykjavik police are called to a block of flats where a body has been found : a young, dark-skinned boy, frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. A stab wound extinguishes any hope that this was a tragic accident. Inspector Erlendur and his team embark on their investigation with little to go on but the news that the boy's Thai half-brother is missing. Is he implicated, or simply afraid for his own life? The investigation soon unearths tensions beneath the surface of Iceland's liberal society. The boy's teacher makes no secret of his anti-immigration stance; incidents are reported between Icelandic pupils and the children of incomers; and, to confuse matters further, a suspected paedophile has been spotted in the area. Meanwhile, the boy's murder forces Erlendur to confront his own past. Soon, facts are emerging from the snow-filled darkness that are more chilling even than the Arctic night...