Richard Brock, the ingenious interrogator of the Vienna police, is contacted by Stefan Merz, a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Interior. The venerable friend enlists Brock's help to solve a delicate case: Karin Kimminger, an employee of the multinational construction company SANDAG, was murdered. Her sister Maria observed the alleged perpetrator when leaving the apartment, but she could not recognize his face

As a suspected collector of child pornography, hostage-taker Sebastian Ulmer is hunted.Brock witnesses Sebastian's desperate act: The gunman, son of a highly respected family, takes his own life before the investigators can question him. That nothing in this case is as it seems, soon becomes clear.

Surgeon Karin Staller is desperately looking for her daughter Aline. There are traces of a burglary in her villa in Semmering, Austria. An outbound search action has so far produced no results, her daughter remains gone without a trace. Richar Brock, requested by the Lower Austrian Criminal Police, begins to investigate.

A brutal murder is committed in Brock's apartment building. Brock's secret lover Paula is the only witness to the crime. A certain Dr. Pliem, who knows about the secret affair, requests Brock to treat him. As soon as doctor-patient confidentiality is established Pliem confesses that everything he has said so far about himself was a lie. Brock's meticulously organized world gets out of hand. It seems that he has become the victim of a sick game.

A young woman is murdered and the man is still at the scene of the crime when the police arrive. First he pleads his innocence but then he makes a confession. For Brock, the man cannot have committed the murder. The confession makes no sense, Brock investigates on his own and bumps into a commune that lives by disturbing principles. The case takes Brock deep into an almost biblical story of fratricide, guilt, and suicide and the attempt to build a just society.

Clara Rink asks Richard Brock to give her an assessment of whether her husband Johannes Rink is suffering from a mental disorder. Richard receives a phone number from Johannes, who later is determined to have schizophrenia, and meets a call girl, Eva Faller. Brock realizes that Eva is being threatened by Johannes Rink. He tries to protect her. Thereafter Johannes Rink is killed in self-defense by Brock who is taken into custody. In this extreme situation, he tries to understand the scope of the Tragedy in which he has become deeply involved. Brock must realize that desperate lovers often have a deep breath in order to vanquish what they desire.