Arlene Bynon answers a collect call. On the other end of the line is Clifford Olson: a man convicted of killing eleven children and teenagers in the 1980s. The oldest of them, eighteen. The youngest of them, nine. During years of secret phone calls from his prison cell, he tells this young journalist things he hasn’t told anyone else.

Decades later, Nathaniel Frum dusts off a box of old tapes inherited from his late grandfather. When he hears Arlene’s voice, he knows he needs to find her.

And they both know that this forgotten story needs to be told.

‘They called him the Candyman.’

In British Columbia’s lower mainland, children are disappearing. Families are terrified as the local RCMP attempts to find out who is preying on vulnerable kids.

At a time when both the public and the police don’t know how to deal with a serial killer, Clifford Olson slips through the cracks.

It’s the summer of 1981 and the RCMP have their sights set on Clifford Olson, who is well known to them as a career criminal and informant.

As police investigate, kids continue to be taken. Kids like Judy Kozma, a 14-year-old who never made it home from her shift at McDonald’s. By the time he’s finally arrested, Olson has murdered at least eleven young people.

The RCMP’s case against him is weak - until Olson proposes a deal.

In the present day, Arlene speaks to family members of those he killed.