Detective Erlendur and his team are invesigating past cases. Building work uncovers a shallow grave in Reykjavik, where once it was rolling and open hills. While Erlendur is struggling to hold together his own family, his investigations into the murder unearths other tales of pain. The hills have a lot of stories to tell, tales of failed relationships and heartbreak, anger, violence and fear, family loyalty and family shame. He finds that not many people are now alive to tell the story, but secrets taken to the grave cannot remain hidden forever.