In a desolate coastal area in northern Sweden a large cruise ship, Ocean Gala, harbors 1,800 asylum seekers on board. Not everyone in the local community is pleased about this. Right-wing forces gather on the quay to demonstrate against the floating refugee camp, and as a brutal robber begins to ravage the area, the chief of police recruits a group of young talents from the new Joint-Scandinavian Academy for Police Profiling. The troubled group is led by an experienced investigator, Conrad Løwe, but the group's biggest asset - and threat - is the young Nadia Elmkvist, who is so sharp that he might cut himself on her. In Härnösand they meet Hampus Cedergren - a local policeman who is not in favor of the young profilers and in particular Nadia and her hard-nosed questioning methods.

Unlike most crime thrillers, The Academy centers around the personal dynamics of the group. As such, our cover cooks distilled a photograph of two of the new recruits overlooking the waters where the Ocean Gala has anchored. Both are dressed for the cold, wet weather and looking solemnly in opposite directions, emphasizing the psychological and often gloomy aspects of the investigative tasks rather than the morbid details of the crimes themselves.