Beneath the imposing Kollen Mountain lies a small village where the children run in and out of one another's houses and play unafraid in the streets But the sleepy village is like a pond through which not enough water runs - beneath the surface it is beginning to stagnate When a naked body is found by the lake at the top of the mountain, its seeming tranquillity is disturbed forever Enter Inspector Sejer, a tough, no-nonsense policeman whose own life is tinged by sadness