Two journalists on the verge of exposing their story in the political magazine Millennium about an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden are brutally murdered. They key suspect is Lisbeth Salander the troubled, wise beyond her years genius hacker, whose finger prints are found on the murder weapon. Mickael Bloomkvist, Millennium's publisher who befriended Salander during a previous investigation, is alone in his belief in Salander's innocence and swiftly plunges into an examination of the slayings which implicate highly placed members of Swedish society, business and government. Fully aware that Salander is fierce when fearful, he is desperate to get to her before she is cornered and alone but she is nowhere to be found.