On a cool March morning, a mutilated pigeon carcass is discovered in the Elbwiesen. Soon, these gruesome findings repeat, until a massacred German shepherd and eventually a suspect for these crimes are found. The courtroom is packed as the young judge Raik Winter opens the trial against Hans Nowotny, a former criminal investigator. Although he feels that everyone expects him to deliver a conviction, Winter acquits the defendant. But shortly after, the disfigured corpse of a girl is found in the Dresden Heath, hidden in the leaves. Everything suggests that the pigeon killer is also involved here. A manhunt for Nowotny begins, and for the young judge, it becomes a dangerous search for the truth.