One night in 1852 desperate calls for help can be heard coming from a woman being abused in her home in Kalmar. But no one dares interrupt the bruiser in the shabby hovel and she is beaten to death. Why did no one come to Maria's aid and what happened to her daughter Augusta?

With the help of archived material, court records and historian Marie Eriksson, university lecturer Hanna Enefalk and professor Roddy Nilsson, David Lagerkrantz breathes new life into an old criminal case.