Britt-Marie, 63 years old, has just left a 40 year old marriage and her long life as a house wife. Being told she is a nagging passive agressive aunt, the new, only job, in small town Borg will be quite challinging. Small town of Borg has no pride left exept the young soccer team, and Britt-Maries new job is to coach them.
Halvdan is not a proper Viking. He's having a limp and is regarded by the other kids as a strange loner with no friends, except for the village blacksmith Björn who's taken care of him since Halvdan's father left on a plundering trip.
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family.