They have nothing to live for. They have nothing to lose.

It is 17 May, and the police are hunting a man in the crowd along Karl Johan. A few hours earlier, a Norwegian military aircraft disappeared over the Baltic Sea.

Jens Meidell is a single father and the country’s new Minister of Justice. On his first day, he learns that peace talks are underway between Russians and Ukrainians in Norway. But the talks are on the verge of collapse, and the government’s honour is at stake. Could the price of peace be too high? A power struggle erupts, and Jens must navigate a landscape of love, cynicism and hatred. In the shadows lurk even more powerful and brutal forces.

A daughter wants to break free from her father. A child is abducted from his mother. Jens Meidell must decide what he is willing to sacrifice when the path to the throne suddenly opens up.