Abysmal, sophisticated and North German autumn on the North Sea island of Amrum. On a stormy night, an old man dies, hung upside down from the Quermarkenfeuer, the small island lighthouse. His wife is also found brutally murdered. The investigation is taken over by Chief Inspector John Benthien of the Flensburg CID. Benthien has handled many gruesome cases in his time of service, but this one surpasses them all. Who is behind the double murder? Was it an act of revenge? The inspector and his team are groping in the dark - until they come across two events that lie far in the past.