Adam Zych

One of the passengers on a ship carrying Poles on a cruise in December 1981 is a dissident high school teacher sent abroad by Solidarity. He is under surveillance of the secret police, anxious to get their hands on the info that he is carrying. When the ship is in the middle of the Baltic sea, martial law is declared and the ship is militarized. The captain announces he will turn and return the home port. Many anguished passengers put the life vests on and jump into the sea, where they are picked up by two German ships. The teacher, however, decides to return to Poland and continue the struggle for freedom.

In Szczecin, police hunt for 23-year-old Justyna Przybysz, whose body, found in a river canal, has been mutilated by the removal of her right hand. As more victims turn up in similarly brutal murders, the local criminal investigation unit—and even a hired private detective—find themselves powerless to stop the killer’s escalating spree. The mounting terror and relentless violence breed conflict within the force and drive one officer to collapse.