The first episode of Netflix’s new Swedish crime series Land of Sin opens with a warning that becomes the theme for the entire show. Detective Dani Anttila finds herself in a fight for the truth in a place where outsiders are not welcome and old sins refuse to stay buried.
Titled You’ve Been Warned, the premiere episode arrived on Netflix on January 2, 2026. It introduces a tense mystery set in the remote Bjäre peninsula, where a missing teenager case quickly turns into a murder investigation, pulling a detective back into a painful chapter of her own past.
The Call That Pulls a Detective Back In
The story begins one week before the opening scene, with a phone call. Dani Anttila, a veteran detective from Malmö, gets a call from a man named Ivar. Ivar’s son, Silas, has been missing for four days. Ivar hates the police, but he calls Dani because of their shared history. Silas was once Dani’s foster son after social services removed him from his parents’ home due to problems with alcohol and violence. Dani eventually had to send Silas back to his family, a decision her own son, Oliver, has never forgiven her for.
Ivar begs Dani to come to the rural town of Bjäre to look for Silas herself, refusing to involve the local authorities. Dani is reluctant, but pressure from her angry son Oliver pushes her to go. She lies to her boss and heads to Bjäre with her new partner, Malik, a capable officer she initially treats with dismissive disrespect.
A Hostile Welcome in Bjäre
From the moment Dani and Malik arrive in Bjäre, they are met with suspicion and open hostility. The town is presented as a closed, tight-knit community where old grudges are a way of life and people are deeply distrustful of outsiders, especially police.
Dani’s personal connection to the case makes her a particular target. When she meets Silas’s mother, Boel, the woman bitterly resents Dani for the time she spent as Silas’s foster mother. The only cooperative family member is Silas’s brother, Kimmen, who gives Dani the password to Silas’s computer: “Nathalie”. On the computer, Dani finds that Silas had purchased two one-way ferry tickets, suggesting he planned to leave town with someone.
The detectives visit Silas’s father, Ivar, who is now on his deathbed. With his last bit of strength, he hints that something was wrong with the local blacksmith, the man Silas worked for as an unpaid apprentice. Watching over this tense family moment is Ivar’s brother, Elis, a local pig farmer who observes Dani with clear animosity.
From Missing Person to Murder Case
The search takes a grim turn when Silas’s body is found in a nearby river. The initial assumption from the locals is that it was a tragic accident—a drunk teenager who fell in and drowned. However, the forensic evidence tells a different, more sinister story.
The autopsy reveals that Silas had saltwater snails and black seaweed in his mouth. This proves he drowned in the ocean, not in the freshwater river where his body was discovered. Additionally, bruising on his neck indicates he was held down. The official cause is no longer an accident but a homicide; Silas was murdered somewhere else and his body was moved to the river to hide the crime.
Elis gives Dani a stern warning: “You have one week to find out who killed my nephew. After that, we handle it our way.”
Despite orders from her superior to step away from the case due to her personal involvement, Dani lies and says the family trusts her, convincing her boss to let her and Malik continue the investigation. Malik is openly skeptical of her methods and the increasing number of lies.
A Web of Secrets and a Second Body
The investigation immediately points to several secrets Silas was keeping. His ex-girlfriend, Becka, had reportedly argued with him after discovering he was seeing another girl named Nathalie. Becka had even threatened to send people after him. Dani asks her team to find any local woman named Nathalie.
A more concrete lead involves the blacksmith. It comes to light that Silas was not just his apprentice but was also blackmailing him for money. This directly contradicts the blacksmith’s earlier claim that he was paying Silas fairly. When Dani and Malik return to question the blacksmith a second time, they make a grisly discovery: he is dead, having fallen from a window. The case now has two victims.
The town’s hostility towards the investigation grows more intense. Men with guns and dogs openly gather to intimidate Dani and Malik, making it clear they are poking their noses where they don’t belong. The community seems to be closing ranks.
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An Ultimatum from the Town Patriarch
With the blacksmith’s death causing more unrest, Elis, the powerful family patriarch, takes matters into his own hands. He crosses the police tape at the crime scene and confronts Dani directly. He gives her a firm deadline: one week to solve the murders of both Silas and the blacksmith.
If she fails, the people of the town will take justice into their own hands. Elis’s message is clear: outsiders are not welcome, and the community has its own way of dealing with problems. Dani, stubborn and driven by a need for the truth and a debt to Silas, accepts the dangerous challenge.
The episode then circles back to its opening scene: a woman, who is very likely Dani, lying injured on the ground as a group of men stand over her. This flash-forward confirms that Dani’s investigation will put her in direct and violent conflict with the very people she is questioning.
Land of Sin is a five-part limited series now streaming on Netflix. All episodes were released at once on January 2, 2026.
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