In Dortmund, several young women are found dead within a very short period of time.
 They appear different at first glance – yet they share a gruesome fate: their hearts were surgically removed. What remains each time is the same macabre symbol – a skeletal hand clutching a heart.
 For the young investigator Anna Slotkova, one thing quickly becomes clear: these crimes are no accident. They are staged. Every crime scene resembles a stage set, every corpse a part of a disturbing work of art.
 But as Anna begins to recognize the patterns behind the murders, she realizes that this series is not yet complete.
 Something is missing.
 A final work.
 At the same time, her own past catches up with her – memories of her first cases, of a darkness she thought she had long since left behind. Two series of murders, two abysses that are inexorably merging.
 And as Anna gets deeper into the perpetrator's game, she discovers a terrifying truth:
 She's not just hunting him.
 He has already chosen her.