The celebrated artist Lukas Abendroth is strangled just before the opening of his latest exhibition - in Babette's ballroom, where a ballet of young girls is rehearsing for the vernissage. Commissioner Peter Heiland must realize: The murdered man had many enemies. He humiliated women, seduced his models, and betrayed his friends. Peter Heiland immerses himself in a foreign world: the international art trade, where millions are at stake. The number of people with a motive grows with each step of the investigation.