Excitement in the Vienna opera scene: Magnus Maurer, a young Austrian conductor who is already celebrated as the successor to Herbert von Karajan, has taken over the direction of the premiere of "La Traviata" at the State Opera on short notice. However, shortly after the sensational announcement, he is found strangled in his bed. Inspectors Kajetan Vogel and Alfons Walz face an almost unsolvable case, as the number of suspects is large.