A lifeboat floats ashore at the coast of Skåne. Inside are two dead men who who've been murdered. Policeman Kurt Wallander is assigned to the case. The men are identified with the help of the police in Latvia. One of their officers travel to Sweden to to help but when he returns to his home country he is mysteriously murdered. Kurt flies to Riga to find out why and is drawn into complex conspiracy.
After twelve years in the city Jānis returns to the country and marries his first love - now a widow with three children - Aija. But the happiness is not meant to be because the husband and the wife share different views of life and, ultimately, can't work out their relationships.
During an international rally two contestants find a hidden painting in the door of their car. In order to not get removed from the track riders do not report to their team management.
After the train conductor Pētersons receives money transfer from an unknown source, he suspects foul play involving the cargo he's transporting. He decides to do his own investigation into the matter, not realizing that he's putting himself and those around him in danger.
The son of Martins Viksna, the collective farm chairman, Klavs comes home from the military service and starts working in his native kolkhoz but does not understand his colleagues, so he goes to town.