When Commissioner Arne Heldt is found murdered in a brutally sadistic manner in a suburb of Heidelberg, Chief Inspector Alexander Gerlach is left in shock. Although the victim was not very popular—a justice fanatic trapped in a world where there was only good or evil—he was a colleague. Gerlach immediately begins the investigation and soon uncovers an old case of rape and murder that Heldt had intended to reopen. The trail eventually leads to a swamp of deeply inhumane dealings that reaches not only into the upper echelons of Baden-Württemberg but also extends to Greece and Azerbaijan. But who is the ruthless mastermind behind it all?.