A godless crime outrages the citizens of Cologne: skulls and bones have been stolen from a charnel house. Shortly thereafter, a pregnant woman is murdered in the backyard of the apothecary Adelina. Immediately, Medicus Neklas Burka, Adelina's husband, comes under suspicion of having used the woman for his experiments. Adelina is determined to prove his innocence. However, even she begins to have doubts when she soon discovers a secret room in her cellar filled with human skulls and bones...