During the pagan Rauhnächte, unbridled revelry reigns in the former Viking town of Ribe. Even at the police station, where conscientious patrol officer Ida Sörensen is helping out on the night shift, chaos reigns. At this moment, no one is thinking about the sadistic serial killer who kidnaps people and leaves them to starve in the forest.

Patrol officers Ida Sörensen and Magnus Vinter are called to the scene where a body has been found. Horik, the son of Kort Holm, a Copenhagen underworld figure, has been killed with two Viking arrows.

During the night, patrol officer Ida Sörensen hears urgent cries for help coming from the church tower. Together with her young colleague Emma, the policewoman arrives at Ribe Cathedral. There, high up in the tower, a man is threatening a young woman with a knife. Ida and Emma draw their weapons when the mighty bell suddenly rings loudly. In the heat of the moment, Emma shoots the attacker, Finn Eriksson, causing the victim, Bente Bruun, to fall to her death. For Inspector Frieda Olsen, the case is closed before it has even begun. However, Ida soon begins to doubt the explanation that it was a foiled rape attempt. Ida soon discovers that Bente, a young investigative journalist, had been feeling threatened for days. While Ida and her colleague Magnus search for a notebook hidden by Bente, the dubious Konrad Gram and his assistant Viggo try to get to it first. Without realizing it, Ida puts herself in danger.