Handlung

Police inspector Carl Mørck is put in charge of a department of cold cases, joined only by his assistant Assad. They dig into a case about a missing woman.

Chief detective Carl Mørck and his assistant Assad become involved in a five-year-old case concerning the mystery of politician Merete Lynggaard's disappearance--a search that takes them deep into the undercurrent of abuse and malice that lurks beneath the polished surface of Scandinavia.—Zentropa Productions

After a failed deployment, Commissioner Carl Mørck is relegated to a special department in the dusty cellar where he he will solve unresolved cases with his new assistant's help--except the cold case. He reluctantly follows this warning for one day, but his stubborn side compels him to follow the case of the disappearance of a female politician. Her sudden disappearance five ;years before on a ferry in the presence of her mentally-handicapped brother had originated a poor police investigation. The officials involved don't want to know this, but the official suicide theory turns out to be wrong, and soon grumpy Carl makes a terrible discovery.—Bob Buckingham

Haunted by a range of personal issues, while still blaming himself after the botched police raid that resulted in the death of a colleague, stone-faced Copenhagen-based lead detective Carl Mørck gets demoted to Department Q: the gloomy, underground division of cold cases. As the head of a government initiative aiming to solve knotty, long-forgotten incidents from all over Denmark, Carl half-heartedly sifts through endless case files with the vault's insightful caretaker Assad. Before long, the mismatched partners are investigating the unaccountable disappearance of Merete Lynggaard, an up-and-coming young politician. What happened to Merete? Who made her vanish into thin air--and why?—Nick Riganas

Following a shootout that left his two partners dead and paralyzed respectively, chief detective Carl Mørck is assigned to the newly-established Department Q, a department for old, terminated cases. The department consists only of himself and his new assistant Assad. Although they get explicit orders to only read and sort through the cases, the very next day, Carl's stubborn nature throws them head-first into the mystery of Merete Lynggaard: a well-known female politician who vanished five years ago from a passenger ferry. The only witness is her brain-damaged brother who was found on the car deck, screaming at the top of his lungs. The case was put to rest as an apparent suicide. Unconvinced by this explanation Carl and Assad venture on a journey that will take them deep into the undercurrent of abuse and malice that lurks beneath the polished surface of Scandinavia.