Vienna, July 27, 1911. A major fire rages in the wood storage areas at the Northwest Railway Station. It can only be extinguished after two days with the efforts of 167 members of the Vienna professional fire brigade. Amidst thousands of onlookers, a man is brutally beaten to death. Frantisek Oprschalek and his best friend Nepomuk Budka, a repeatedly convicted violent criminal, leave a bloody trail of murders and arsons through Vienna. Inspector Nechyba and his wife Aurelia find themselves caught in a whirlwind of violence that personally threatens them as well.