Trapped in the labyrinth of South Tyrolean apple orchards. In late autumn, when the fog hangs between the countless apple trees, the bodies of two women are found in the valley below. Down there, in the wide basin between the vineyards, no mayor and no pastor holds sway. The farmers rule down there. The farmers quickly present Commissario Grauner and his Neapolitan colleague Saltapepe with the murderer: it is said to be Zwölfer-Heinrich. However, a mysterious scrap of paper makes the investigators doubt. While Grauner listens among the fruit and wine growers and unexpectedly ends up at a symposium for Gewürztraminer, Saltapepe hears from the prostitutes along the state road at night. He does not notice the shadows creeping up on him between the apple trees. In his fourth case, the popular Commissario and livestock farmer Johann G. is on the hunt.