On his way to South Tyrol, reporter Stefan Rombach encounters a striking customer of a thrift store, whose face is hidden. The stranger's eccentricity piques Rombach's interest, and he follows the vehicle of the foreigner, in which he recognizes the long-missing doctor and scientist Nikolas Stratmann. Stratmann is living under a false name in an abandoned hotel. What Rombach finds there exceeds all human imagination, as Stratmann has grotesquely alienated himself from society. The reporter fears for his life and wants to escape, but he is trapped.