Aksel Borgen is the successful Norwegian partner of the Malaysian based Pacific World Group (PWG), a major international finance company. He lives in Kuala Lumpur with his wife, Angeline, and their son Tim. Angeline is a corporate lawyer, beautiful and sophisticated. 20 years ago, Aksel was accused of the murder of his girlfriend Karine Hansteen. The initial conviction was appealed, and led to a subsequent acquittal, but in his hometown, Lifjord, he finds himself faced with suspicion and animosity from his community, and eventually he is forced to leave everything and everyone behind to go abroad.
It is now Aksel's word against Eva and William's, and there is little indication that Aksel will be believed. Aksel challenges Eva to tell the truth, but gets nowhere.
Aksel turns directly to Eva with his suspicions of incest, but she denies everything. He then goes to Kristoffersen and accuses him of having ignored the obvious out of consideration for the powerful Hansteen family.
The court case is about to begin and opens up old wounds for everyone involved. Eva has hired a hard-hitting defense lawyer who whips up public opinion against Aksel.
Shock and disbelief overwhelm Lifjord after William's revelations. Aksel is convinced that he is lying, and when Karoline encourages Aksel to take the stand to give his own account of what happened the night of the murder, Aksel refuses.
Aksel is furious after the outcome of the trial, and he insists on fighting for the truth until his final breath. Karoline, with whom he has entered into a passionate and forbidden affair, tries to get him to realize that he can't win this fight.
A crushed Erik returns after several hours of searching for Helene who has disappeared without a trace. He blames Aksel for pushing her too far. Now he fears that something has happened to her.
While Lifjord is shaken by another great tragedy, Aksel goes to the police and demands his brother's release. The only people with a motive for killing Helene are William and Eva who knew the truth and could expose their lies.