It is 1595. Brutal wars have just ended in an uneasy peace between Protestant Sweden and Orthodox Russia. We focus on the spiritual defeats of two conquered Finnish brothers, one a hardened near-psychopathic war hero, the other a gentle scientist in an age with no use for such men. They find themselves in the swampy interior, demarcating the new border with a unit of sadistic Russians.

A TV reporter is murdered when he is eavesdropping on a secret Finnish-Soviet conference. The National Broadcasting Corporation enlists the help of police lieutenant Palmu, who comes out of retirement for this case. However, some have their doubts about the loyalities of Palmu, seeing that he was spotted in a diplomatic soiree in Moscow just a few weeks before the murder.

Viktor Kärppä was forced involuntarily in the middle of Russia's internal power struggle. Soon bunch of assassins as well as Security Police are trying to catch Kärppä. Kärppä's family is also in great danger. In order to save themselves and their families they need to resort to Kärppäs friend, the police Korhonen , as well as his brother Aleksei.