Early one morning, a small-town farmer makes the horrible discovery that his neighbors have been brutally attacked during the night. An old man is dead, and his wife lies dying before the farmer's eyes. The only clue is the single word she utters before she dies: "foreign". In charge of the investigation is Inspector Kurt Wallander, a local cop whose personal life is a shambles. His family is falling apart, he's gaining weight, and he's drinking too much, but he is tenacious and level-headed in his sleuthing. Still, things get complicated when he has to deal with an eruption of violent antiforeigner sentiment, as well as a tough-minded - and very attractive - female district attorney, as he searches for the killers.