On a quiet spring morning, a man leaves prison after spending most of his adult life there. The man has been convicted of murder, not once but twice. Now he has served his sentence for the most recent murder and takes the bus home to his small community. But is everything forgotten and forgiven? A year later, a mutilated corpse is found... Inspector Van Veeteren is confronted with a bizarre and terrifying human fate and a brutal murder where all clues lead back and where questions of justice and punishment are brought to a head.