| Director | Tomas Alfredson |
|---|---|
| Genre | crime film, drama film, film based on a novel, horror film |
| Runtime | 119 min |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Budget | $35 million |
| Box office | $43.1 million |
At a remote cabin, a boy and his mother, Sarah, are visited by his abusive biological father, a police officer named Jonas. Jonas strikes and sexually assaults Sarah, who threatens to tell Jonas's wife about their illegitimate son. Jonas leaves and Sarah follows in her car with her son. During the chase, she drifts into a catatonic state, letting go of the steering wheel. The boy escapes as the car crashes into a lake. Despite his pleading, his mother remains seated and sinks.
Years later, Harry Hole is an inspector with the Norwegian Police Service's Oslo district. He struggles with alcoholism and a recent break-up with Rakel, mother of a boy named Oleg whom Harry loves like a son. After receiving a mysterious letter signed with a childlike drawing of a snowman, Harry meets new recruit Katrine Bratt and accompanies her investigation into the disappearance of Birte Becker, a woman with a husband and daughter. The two find a snowman at Becker's home.
Harry realizes Katrine has taken police files without permission. He learns she's looking for a link between several missing persons cases and another case, from nine years before, that was investigated by an alcoholic inspector named Gert Rafto. Katrine convinces Harry to join a new investigation into the disappearance of Sylvia Otterson, whom they find alive and well at her farm. Shortly after they leave, a masked figure beheads Sylvia with an electrified cable harness. A call comes in requesting Harry specifically so he and Katrine return to the farmhouse. There they meet Sylvia's identical twin, Ane. Sylvia's body is inside her barn and her head atop a snowman.
Katrine believes corrupt businessman Arve Støp is responsible for the deaths. Traveling to Bergen to investigate further, Harry runs into Rakel's new boyfriend Mathias, a cosmetic surgeon, and realizes he forgot he had promised to take Oleg on a camping trip the same day. In Bergen, Harry finds that Inspector Rafto died by an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Harry then discovers Katrine is Rafto's daughter.
It's discovered that the recent victims each visited the clinic of Dr. Vetlesen, who also oversees Støp's high-class prostitution ring. When Becker's phone is reactivated, the signal is traced to Vetlesen's house. Katrine goes to arrest Vetlesen herself but finds him dead of a gunshot wound to the head, along with the remains of Birte Becker and another missing person, Hegen Dahl. The police rule Vetlesen's death a suicide and suspend Katrine for breaking protocol.
Katrine, hoping to trick Støp into confessing to killing her father, flirts with him at a public event. He invites her to his hotel room where she sets up a hidden camera but to no avail; she is attacked and drugged by a masked figure who severs a finger on her right hand. The attacker uses the finger to unlock her work tablet and wipe all its data. The next morning, Harry finds Katrine dead inside a car decorated by the outline of a snowman on its roof.
Rakel visits Harry, admitting she is conflicted and misses him. They start kissing passionately but are interrupted by a phone call from Mathias. Following a lead left behind by Katrine, Harry reinterviews Birte Becker's husband Filip and finds out he met with a hormone specialist and visiting consultant who ends up being Mathias. Meanwhile, Mathias kidnaps Rakel and Oleg, taking them to a cottage in Telemark. Harry locates the cottage and finds Mathias holding the mother and child hostage. Mathias is revealed to be the boy from the first scene, hating his mother for abandoning him and eventually targeting mothers whom he judges are harming their children. Harry frees Rakel from a cable harness but loses a finger. Mathias escapes and Harry chases him onto a frozen lake. Mathias shoots Harry then walks towards him. The ice beneath him breaks apart and he falls into the water, dragged beneath the ice by the current.
The final scene shows Harry, having had his missing finger replaced by a metal prosthesis, volunteering for a new homicide case.