Oslo Police Detective Harry Hole is assigned to investigate a series of bank robberies of unparalleled savagery while at the same time absolving himself of the murder of his former girlfriend in a criminal investigation led by his longtime adversary Tom Waaler and Waaler's vigilante police force.

Hari Holeh niḳra la-ḥaḳor miḳreh shod banḳ yaḥad ʻim shoṭeret tseʻirah. Keshe-mitraḥesh shod nosaf... ha-shoṭeret enenah.