When Janek Mitter wakes up from a night of too much alcohol and sex, he must break into the locked bathroom, where he finds his wife dead in the bathtub. Suffering from amnesia as a result of his drinking, he falls into a lethargic state that lasts throughout his murder trial, conviction, and imprisonment in a mental hospital. Detective Chief Inspector Van Veeteren launches a new investigation when Mitter is murdered.

A secretive and dubious religious sect comes under investigation as one of their young members, a girl on the cusp of puberty, is found dead in the forest, brutally raped and strangled. Adopting to remain silent over the incident rather than defend themselves, the members of The Pure Life-led by their intelligent but perturbing messiah figure, Oscar Yellineck-simultaneously anger and mystify Van Veeteren and the other detectives on the case. What's...