Janina Duszejko, Kathryn Hunter, is an aging former teacher who lives in a rural Polish village near the Czech border in Silesia, between Lewin and Kłodzko. She spends her days studying astrology and helping her friend Dizzy Alexander Uzoka translate the poetry of William Blake into Polish. She lives alone, haunted by the disappearance of her two dogs long ago. She tends to her neighbors’ summer houses and fills her time with quiet intellectual pursuits rather than the pace of the nearby towns.
One day, Janina’s neighbour Oddball César Saratxu comes to tell her that he has found their neighbour Big Foot dead. From Janina and Oddball’s visit to Big Foot’s cabin, it seems Big Foot choked on a bone while eating. Janina also discovers a shocking photograph in Big Foot’s house, the contents of which are revealed later in the penultimate chapter. The image unsettles her, and she begins to believe that animals could have killed Big Foot out of vengeance. She writes to the local police, but her theory is brushed aside by a skeptical system. The police commandant, a hunter himself, dismisses her concerns, and Janina grows increasingly convinced that a larger animal-rights logic might be at work.
The case takes a darker turn when the Commandant dies abruptly beside his car on a rough road. His death, in Janina’s view, seems to validate her suspicions, though Dizzy and Oddball remain skeptical. The criminal investigation lurches forward with tension, and the police question Dizzy and Janina as witnesses to the crime scene. One officer bluntly accuses Janina of placing the lives of animals above humans, to which she simply replies that she values both equally.
Soon after, Innerd, a local brothel owner and wealthy fur farmer who breeds white foxes, goes missing. His mysterious disappearance fuels rumors about shady dealings, financial threats, or a possible flight with a lover. Meanwhile, a hiker named Borys—spelled Boros by Janina—appears in the village. He is an entomologist researching endangered beetles and hopes to persuade the government to protect them from extinction. Janina welcomes him into her life, and the two grow closer, gradually becoming romantically involved. Weeks later, Innerd’s decomposed body is found in the forest, the victim of an apparent attack, with an animal snare gripping his leg. Janina, Boros, and Dizzy debate whether the deaths were caused by humans or by animals seeking revenge, each maintaining their own theory.
A third death shocks the village: the leader of a local social club and hunting association, whom Janina calls “the President,” is found dead after a drunken festival. His body is strewn with beetles, a disturbing detail that further unsettles the community and deepens the mounting tension between the land’s ruthless traditions and Janina’s unconventional beliefs.
In November, the village plans a celebration for the opening and consecration of a new Catholic chapel in honor of Saint Hubert, the patron saint of hunters. Father Rustle, a friend of the President and a devout hunter, delivers a sermon that praises hunters as “ambassadors and partners of the Lord God in the work of creation.” The crowd rumbles with agreement, but Janina interrupts the ceremony, challenging the moral complacency around such violence. “Have you fallen asleep? How can you listen to such nonsense without batting an eyelid? Have you lost your minds? Or your hearts? Have you still got hearts?” she demands, her outburst cutting through the crowd’s bravado. The mood shifts as the sermon lingers in the air, and the community grows uneasy about what lies ahead for them all.
Days later, the presbytery burns down and Father Rustle is found dead, a brutal reminder of how fragile the surface civility can be. Janina’s pushback against the town’s hunting culture continues to intensify. She reveals the photograph she found at Big Foot’s house, which shows Big Foot, the Commandant, Innerd, the President, and Father Rustle standing near recently killed animals—among them her two dogs. She explains that while Big Foot truly did choke on a deer bone, the image and the discovery of the photograph inspired her to act, to kill the next four men who represented the cruelty she despised. The revelation marks a turning point: the line between justice and vengeance has blurred, and Janina’s actions cast a long shadow over the village’s moral order.
The police arrive at Janina’s house and search it, but she manages to evade capture. She flees on foot to the Czech Republic, where Boros helps her go into hiding on the edge of the Białowieża Forest, a place where she can remain close to nature and the animals she believes are the true judges of humanity. The story leaves Janina in a precarious, morally complex position, existing between accusation and sanctuary, between the human world of laws and the natural world where she believes animal voices must be heard.
