The Dead Man’s Wife is inspired by the actual life of one of Europe’s first and few female serial killers, named Marie Petitjean (1879-1942). It is an 8-episode period crime drama, told as a redemption story through the eyes of Marie’s older sister, Irma. The two sisters grow up on a farm in a small village at a time where women had no rights to vote nor rights to education. As young adults, Irma tries to become a policewoman in the city but has to settle for being a typist, while her younger sister Marie is a popular seamstress with a vibrant personality. Irma sees how the marriage of Marie turns from a loving relationship to an abusive one. When Marie's husband dies suspiciously, it reminds Irma of the time Marie poisoned an animal as a child. Over the years Irma will try to stop and understand her sister, while Marie poisons eleven more people. When Marie is finally caught, she tells Irma she only became this monster because of her. But is it true? And could Irma have stopped her?