Dr. Tilmann (Harald Krassnitzer) is a successful lawyer who specialises in representing employers; when necessary, he implements mass redundancies with great efficiency, and any employees who resist end up "resigning" in dubious circumstances. A man who has clearly made a lot of enemies. And now he is almost killed by a car bomb. However, on this particular day he has arranged for his secretary Gloria (Nadja Becker) to take the car for its technical inspection, and she is the one who perishes in the blast. Together with her colleague Jürgen Simmel (Hinnerk Schönemann), Marie Brand (Mariele Millowitsch) tracks down a man called Finke (Tilo Prückner), whose wife was harassed by Tilmann for so long that she fell ill and ended up taking her own life. When questioned Finke readily admits that he was behind the attack and now commits suicide. So it looks as though the case has been solved. But Marie doesn't believe that Tilmann only escaped with his life by good fortune. In fact, she suspects he deliberately sent Gloria to her death. After all, in his book Tilmann writes that it is best to manipulate one's enemies so they eliminate each other. But how can she find evidence to back up her suspicion? And what secret did Gloria know which could have been so dangerous for Tilmann? The inspectors dig deeper and now come across a private detective called Mauthes (Jürgen Tarrach), who was employed by Tilmann to keep the Finkes under surveillance. Did Tilmann know all about Finke’s plan to kill him? Soon afterwards Mauthes also commits suicide. Marie doesn't believe in coincidences like this, but now her task is to set a trap for her highly-intelligent opponent in order to make him prove his own guilt.
