Dithmarsh maximum security prison. The most dangerous and brutal criminals serve their sentences here. One of them, nineteen-year-old Josh Riff, is trying to give the mysterious comic book “Four Degrees of Cruelty,” written by his friend, to the custody of warden Kali Williams. At first, Williams refuses. But soon the author of the comic disappears from the camera under mysterious circumstances... and Williams begins to wonder: what is behind his seemingly simple drawings? Thus begins a fascinating story of murder and deception, secret societies and strange ciphers. A story in which the comic plays the role of a guide to a genuine, dark and the cruel life of Dithmarsh prison - a place where it is impossible to distinguish right from wrong, and a criminal from a keeper of the law.