Just before attorney Joachim Vernau marries into the wealthy and influential Zernikow family, the Zernikows receive a letter from the family’s onetime nanny, who seeks compensation. Joachim wonders why the Zernikows claim to know nothing about her. After Joachim asks too many questions, he loses not only the favor of the Zernikows, but also his job, his apartment and even the love of his life. Searching for the truth, he encounters more than one skeleton in the Zernikows’ closets …