自从当初离开，警探艾伦•麦克艾尔佩已经有20年没有回到帕特里山警局了。20多年前，他在格拉斯格西部的一家医院里，救起一位生命垂危的哑女。因为不知道她的名字，他给她起名叫安娜，并深深爱上了她。每天他都注视着她，女人开始用她受伤的手指笔划着，同艾伦相互交流。

当时的艾伦，还是一名警察学校的学生，女人无法用手语说清自己的名字；也无法说出，她刚刚降临于世的女儿，其父亲是谁；更无法指认出用硫酸将她曾经美丽的面容毁烧的凶手；或者告诉艾伦，她是怎么将藏在身上的裸钻偷偷带入苏格兰的。

如今，麦克艾尔佩重新回到帕特里克山，开始着手调查一件困扰他多时的谋杀案。接连有两个女人被害，她们的尸体都呈双臂张开，而双腿合拢双脚交叉于膝盖的姿势。凶手是一个被媒体称作"受难杀手"的男人。

1984: It looked like a simple job. That was why they gave it to him. Guarding a woman - nameless and almost faceless after a savage acid attack - at a Glasgow hospital, PC Alan McAlpine has no idea that this simple job will haunt his career and change his life forever. 2006: Two decades later, Alan steps into Partickhill police station and back in time. Now a celebrated Detective Chief Inspector, McAlpine has been drafted in to lead the hunt for a man the press are calling 'the Crucifixion Killer'. Two women are already dead, their mutilated bodies laid with arms outstretched. With his distinguished reputation, McAlpine's team are confident their new DCI will lead them to the killer. But the obsession that was born in a hospital room twenty-two years earlier has never quite left Alan. And now, it seems, it's come back for a reason...