The year is 1894. Juhan Liiv is a struggling poet in Tartu, Estonia who has been committed to a mental institution by his own family as he suffers from the early stages of schizophrenia. Juhan is alone. Suspicious of everyone – and everything.
Determined to free himself and publish his poetry, Juhan makes a daring escape from the mental institution. Traveling through Estonia’s dense and mythical forests he arrives at his aunt’s farmstead in the countryside, Juhan discovers his uncle Madjus has been gruesomely murdered the night before. Days before being killed, Madjus accidently unearthed a pot of strange old silver coins buried under his field. Now, Madjus is dead and the treasure is missing. Madjus’ daughter Mari secretly tells Juhan she knows who killed her father – The Devil.
Village policeman Peeter is tasked with leading the murder investigation. Juhan believes the man Peeter has arrested is innocent. Resistant and skeptical, but in need of help, Peeter agrees to this odd-couple partnership. Peeter quickly discovers Juhan’s intuitive senses may be key in solving the crime. At the same time, the death toll keeps rising as Mari is found dead, hanging in the graveyard. Juhan’s schizophrenia makes him increasingly paranoid and distrusting of his surroundings, but he notices something unusual about the rope used to kill Mari. A clue that may be the key to stopping The Devil before it kills again…
An unlikely detective, Juhan is our eyes and ears under the shadow of the Russian Empire. Transporting us through the miserable dwellings of Estonian peasants, luxurious castles of the Baltic German nobility (who have reluctantly sworn allegiance to the Tsar), and deep into Estonia’s mystical ancient forests where witchcraft is still practiced. Juhan is not just fighting crime. He is also battling his own mind and inner demons. Within the tyrannical and aristocratic Russian Empire, he discovers that the truth doesn’t always lead to justice. But, perhaps his undying need for the truth makes him the sanest of them all.
