In peaceful southern Sweden, Louise Akerblom, an estate agent, pillar of the Methodist church, wife and mother, disappears. There is no explanation and no motive. Inspector Kurt Wallander and his team are called in to investigate.

As Inspector Wallander is introduced to this missing persons case, he has a gut feeling that the victim will never be found alive, but he has no idea how far he will have to go in search of the killer. In South Africa, meanwhile Nelson Mandela has made his long walk to freedom. Wallander find himself caught up in a conspiracy involving renegade members of the South African secret service and a former KGB agent, all of them set upon halting Mandela's rise to power. Faced with a world in which terrorism knows no frontiers Wallander must prevent a hideous crime that means to dam the tide of history.