A woman discovers the corpse of a girl at the beach, which has a striking similarity to the case of her long-missed brother. She resurrects the case and discovers the cruel truth about the children's disappearance.

A newly married couple, Rachel and Daniel Patten, move into their newly bought home in the dunes in north Germany. Meanwhile, a young Detective, Howard Blackford, from Beijing arrives in Germany to investigate a case of economic crime. The couple tries to get a baby to make their dream perfect, just to find out that Rachel is infertile. Running at the beach one day, Rachel discovers the corpse of a young girl who is fettered with a black silk ribbon. The ribbon evokes memories of the case of her long-missed brother, Ben Patten. The young detective is called by his childhood friend, who is the police chief responsible for the case of the girl. He speaks to Rachel, revealing that the girl's case shares a potentially terrible relation. He visits Ex-Scotland Yard agent Stuart Morley and urges him to speak to Rachel once more since it was him who investigated the case of the brother in 1998. Stuart and Howard start to investigate unofficially, speaking to every witness of both cases, revealing only what they already know - nothing. Every trace leads into emptiness, and it seems as if the investigation ceases before it has even begun. Finally, Stuart finds Tom Manley, the only witness who had seen the brother in 1998, the last witness on the list. Tom once claimed that he had seen Ben on the day he disappeared, together with a white van no one else had seen. Stuart desperately searches for Tom, only to discover that his innocence has never been a lie. But Tom reveals a clue Stuart didn’t know yet. He had seen the same van again in 1999, together with its driver. When Stuart decides to follow the trace of the driver, overstepping moral and legal barriers, Howard withdraws. Their paths split and while Stuart searches for the driver of the van, we turn back to Rachel. Rachel visits her mother, Amy Patten, who she hadn’t seen for years after the disappearance of Ben tore the family apart. Her mother becomes a part of her life again, while Stuart discovers the driver, torturing him to get information about what happened to the brother and the girl. The driver reveals the one he works for, who pulled the strings behind the disappearance of the children, Mikael Nilsson. Stuart finds out about Ben Patten living in Hong Kong when speaking to Mikael before he shoots him. Stuart travels to China, where he meets Howard again. When they talk to Ben, he reveals his sexually abusing mother. A mother Rachel nothing knew about. A Chinese couple, Patten’s only neighbors, commissioned Mikael’s company in 1998 to kidnap him, to provide him with a better life. Back at the house in the dunes, Stuart conveys to Rachel the truth and where to find her missed brother.