During the pagan Rauhnächte, unbridled revelry reigns in the former Viking town of Ribe. Even at the police station, where conscientious patrol officer Ida Sörensen is helping out on the night shift, chaos reigns. At this moment, no one is thinking about the sadistic serial killer who kidnaps people and leaves them to starve in the forest.

When the misanthropic tile salesman Lothar is diagnosed with a terminal disease, he sells his business and gives his dog and all his money to an animal shelter and checks into a hospice, where it turns out that he was misdiagnosed.