Annika Bengtzon is working as a summer intern at the newspaper Kvällspressen. Assigned to screening crank phone calls on the tip line in hopes of getting an occasional valid news break, Annika receives an anonymous tip about the nude corpse of a young girl in a public park. The girl has been raped and killed. Annika provides a strong story that earns her accolades from her boss.

As the plot develops, the focus of the investigation shifts from the victim's lover, the owner of the upscale sex club where she worked, to an important government minister who keeps a secret apartment near the park. Delving into the bureaucrat's alibi, Annika discovers that he is somehow involved in the cover up of the reappearance of a missing archive that could shake the foundation of the ruling Social Democrats, concerning an illegal espionage operation long since disbanded.

She desparately wants to move away from her home city and go to Stockholm. The coverage of this murder may be her big chance for a permanent posistion with the newspaper.

Working with this case, Anniken has to face up to the porn business as well as politicians. The vulnerable sides of her personality are challenged. And, in the end, she meet the largest challenge of them all, one she is totally unprepared for.