An intrigue where not even the appearance is what it pretends to be. Bernd Bickler, a prominent journalist for the Zurich political magazine Wochenblatt, is found shot on an abandoned houseboat in Bern. Nothing fits together, yet a breakthrough in the investigation by the police authorities comes in no time. Carl Brun, head of an operational unit of the Swiss domestic intelligence service, receives the green light to continue investigating the Bickler case under the cover of political and media back-patting. What he officially does not know, but suspects, is that the consent from above serves only the purpose of letting him and his team crash. Nevertheless, the team works under high pressure day and night against the clock. The web of lies, political maneuvering, money, and greed they encounter in their research is not new to any of them. The dimensions of the unfolding scandal are staggering.