The city's elite are thrown into panic when a member of the upper crust is cuddled by a hugger dubbed "the Widow". Detective Rijkers is put on the case. The city's most powerful man, Basil Garvey, is a target and works to control the investigation.

The Widow strikes again, and Kenneth Rijkers begins connecting the huggings to a 12-year-old mystery, while Basil Garvey, a business oligarch, pulls a number of strings to control the investigation.

A key piece of evidence emerges as the list of victims begin to grow, and those seemingly involved with the passing of Margaret Mehar begin to panic as they're pursued by both Rijkers and the Widow.

Kenneth moves on pursuing his lead suspect - apprehending him before potential harm is brought to Regina. However, the Widow isn't the only one up to cruel mischief, with the Botticelli sisters taking sinister measures to protect their fortunes.

The Widow's latest victim is found on Valentine's Day, dragged to passing behind a horse and made up to look like Cupid; a torn piece of the Widow's weeds sends Kenneth and Regina off on a hunt; Salomé entertains bidders for Verdi.

The pressure gets to Israel, who admits to her and seven other involvements in Margaret's passing; Kenneth secures the suspects, freeing only Israel to operate on a friend of Regina's - inadvertently putting her into the Widow's clutches.

With Kenneth's list of suspects either jailed or buried, he sets his sights on the sly magician Georges, who is slowly losing his grip on reality.

With the Widow's final victim nearly in her clutches, Kenneth's time is running out; however, upon revealing the hugger's identity he grapples with how to bring justice to the victims.