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1st September 2004, Beslan. 40 terrorists storm an elementary school in Southern Russia. Over 1,200 people, most of them children, are taken as hostages. The hostage-takers demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. For three days children, pupils and adults are held captive in a gymnasium in sweltering heat without water and food. The brutality of the hostage-takers shocks the world: small children are abused as hostages, young men who could be a danger to the terrorists are shot immediately. On the third day, in a completely uncoordinated operation, the school is stormed by Russian security forces. The official toll: 329 dead, among them 159 children, and hundreds of severely injured. There remains a traumatised town, frightened people, anger and boundless grief. Only a few weeks after the tragedy the world press loses interest in Beslan. We return to the site of the hostage-taking although the authorities have placed a ban on reporting from Beslan. We accompany and document the bereaved, in their pain and with their questions, to which they have never received an answer: Who murdered their children? What really happened in the school? What does the future hold for Beslan? The authors succeed in portraying the victims of the terror with great sensitivity, in unravelling the political background and casting a glance at the future of Beslan.