Laurin was a political prisoner in East Germany. Now, as a defector, he lives in the mining wasteland "Frohe Zukunft" in the heart of the Harz Mountains. One day, he and his former prison mate Siggi meet street musicians Swenja and Nanzi, who come from a small former Soviet republic between Europe and Asia. The women want to entice Laurin and Siggi into committing an assassination. The target: their head of state - the Hunnic tyrant. Quedlinburg private detective Irenäus Moll accidentally gets on their trail and becomes a witness to highly complicated entanglements. Meanwhile, his lover, the attractive red-haired chief inspector Rita, is hunting the Mühlgraben Ripper, who is wreaking havoc in Quedlinburg at night. In the traitor's tavern, she meets the nature-loving Ewald.