Two years after Hitler's rise to power, a young American historian comes to the capital of the German Reich for a year of research. There, alongside his academic work commissioned by his country's security service, he observes the vilification of contemporary visual art. Together with a young intern who is desperately fighting for the salvation of modern art, he finds not only evidence of a systematic destruction of "degenerate" art in the German National Gallery but also uncovers a large-scale conspiracy aimed at shifting the balance of power in the Third Reich. The search for the perpetrators leads the protagonists into life-threatening situations, drawing in friends and supporters as well.