In
Nightmute, Alaska, teenager Kay Connell is found beaten to death, her body scrubbed of
forensic evidence and dumped naked in a landfill. At the request of the local chief,
LAPD detectives Will Dormer and Hap Eckhart are sent to assist with the investigation. Ellie Burr, a young local detective who idolizes Dormer, is assigned as their guide. They question Kay's abusive boyfriend Randy Stetz, who admits he discovered Kay had a secret admirer but could not force her to reveal his identity. In private, Eckhart admits he is being pressured by an
Internal Affairs investigation and will testify against Dormer in exchange for immunity. Kay's backpack is discovered at a shack near the coast and Dormer uses it to set a trap, but this backfires and the suspect flees into a heavy fog, shooting an officer in the leg. Giving pursuit, Dormer spots an unidentifiable figure and fires at them with his backup weapon after his sidearm jams. Grabbing a
.38 caliber pistol the suspect dropped, Dormer rushes to the figure and discovers he has shot and killed Eckhart. The police assign blame to the suspect and Dormer does not dissuade them, knowing Internal Affairs will never believe the shooting was an accident due to Eckhart's pending testimony. Burr is assigned to the shooting investigation and finds the .38 bullet that pierced the officer's leg. That night, Dormer fires the .38 into an animal carcass, then retrieves and cleans the bullet. At the morgue, the pathologist gives him the
9 mm caliber bullet from Eckhart's body, which she doesn't recognize as very few people in the area own pistols. Dormer replaces it with the .38 bullet. When Burr believes the case is closed, however, Dormer's conscience refuses to let him sign off and he tells her to do another review, which causes her to notice inconsistencies in his statement. Dormer becomes plagued by
insomnia, brought on by his guilt and further exacerbated by the
perpetual daylight. He begins receiving phone calls from the killer, who witnessed Dormer shoot his partner. Questioning her estranged best friend, Dormer learns Kay was a fan of local crime writer Walter Finch, and realizes he was her secret admirer based on the alias she gave him. Dormer goes to Finch's apartment in a nearby village and breaks in, hiding the .38 in a heating vent. Returning home, Finch realizes someone is inside and escapes after a chase. Finch contacts Dormer again and arranges a public meeting on a ferry. Finch wants help shifting suspicion to Randy, offering to stay silent about the Eckhart shooting in return. Attempting to dissuade him from this, Dormer tells Finch he can't hide his relationship with Kay and gives advice on handling the inevitable police questioning. As Finch leaves the ferry, he reveals he has recorded the conversation. In another phone call, Finch admits he flew into a blind rage after Kay laughed at his romantic advances, stressing that her death was "an accident." Having lied that he lost the gun, Dormer suggests Kay's dress would be sufficient evidence to implicate Randy. The next day, Finch is questioned and mentions that Kay described Randy's abuse to him in her letters. Finch then claims Randy threatened Kay with a gun, and Dormer realizes his trap has again failed. Randy is arrested when the .38 is found in his house. Finch asks Burr to come to his lake house the next day to collect Kay's letters. Returning to the cabin, Burr discovers a 9 mm shell casing. She reads her police academy thesis about one of Dormer's cases and realizes he carries a 9 mm as a backup weapon. After trashing his room in an attempt to block the sunlight coming through the window, Dormer confides in the hotel clerk about the Internal Affairs investigation: he fabricated evidence against a
pedophile he was certain had murdered one of his victims, and the conviction (among many others) would have been overturned had Eckhart testified. When he tries to justify this to himself, the clerk asks him if it's something he's willing to live with. Dormer breaks into Finch's apartment again and discovers Kay's letters. Realizing Burr is being lured into a trap, he rushes to Finch's lake house, where Finch reveals he has Kay's dress before knocking Burr unconscious. Dormer arrives and confronts Finch, but is disoriented from lack of sleep and overpowered before Burr revives and drives Finch off. She tells Dormer she knows he shot Eckhart, and he admits he is no longer certain it was an accident. Finch retrieves a shotgun from his boathouse and begins shooting; Burr returns fire while Dormer outflanks Finch. In a struggle Dormer wrestles the shotgun away, but Finch draws Burr's gun and they shoot each other, resulting in both of them being respectively wounded and killed. Attempting to comfort the mortally wounded Dormer, Burr moves to throw away the shell casing that proves his guilt. Dormer stops her, telling her not to lose her way as he did, before dying. ==Cast==