It’s summer, it’s really hot and the sun is blazing over Stockholm. At a restaurant right by the water front downtown, people are sitting and toasting and shouting. Suddenly someone stands up, then several do the same. The reason is a sight they will never forget: Out on Riddarfjärden, an inflatable flamingo is bobbing as it slowly approaches the restaurant – and when it gets really close, panicked screams are heard and someone vomits outright. The flamingo has a gruesome cargo. Strapped to it is a naked man. A man without a head …
Nick Johansson and Klara Pil at the Stockholm Police are given charge of the investigation, which is rapidly growing and becoming increasingly unpleasant. As if that wasn’t enough, they are forced to watch on a private level when a mutual friend marries a colleague of theirs, a man they, for various reasons, deeply detest. While the heat lies like a blanket over the city, Nick and Klara work hard to prevent more people to meet the same destiny as the headless man.