Former KGB agent Viktor Kärppä isn’t a killer even though he looks like one, and he saw things on the job that he’d like to forget. In an attempt to escape his past and create some order in his life he settles in Finland, putting down roots in the country of his ancestors. Assimilating into his adopted culture proves impossible, however, because he comes off as an outsider. His multi-cultural background and fluency in Russian and Finnish, which were useful to him once, are now liabilities.