During an intervention, a macabre find is made in the trunk of a car and the Beck group quickly ends up in the firing line for a seemingly cold-blooded killer. But things are not what they seem. The group is the subject of a stressful internal investigation and Oscar ends up in a really difficult dilemma. Alex's task is to solve both an unusually and unimaginably cruel murder mystery, while the Beck group risks collapsing from within. Martin Beck is doubtful about her way of handling the case, at the same time as he himself seems to be undergoing a personality change. The pressure on the Beck group becomes fierce, both internally and externally when the media hears about the failed police operation and the sad finding in the tailgate. This should prove to be one of the group's most emotional cases.