Goran, the village idiot, robs a bank then blows himself up. When investigations begin, more sinister activities are revealed involving a doctor who works in the Ystad Hospital.
Military exercises in Ystad make solving five murders difficult. To make things worse, Kurt finds one of the murdered women was a school friend and the first girl he had ever kissed.
A semi-trailer found dumped and full of dead people leads Kurt Wallander and his team to a convent where the nuns have been assisting illegal refugees into Sweden via Poland.
Following an argument with her lover on her boat, a woman is found dead. Wallander and the Ystad police investigate; their inquiries lead them to a farm commune and to an old friend of Linda's.