A camper is set ablaze in a forest area. Discovered in the rubble: the remains of a human body. There is only one witness.
The journalist Felicitas Molin claims to have seen a shadowy figure on the run. Soon, Oliver von Bodenstein and Pia Sander from K11 in Hofheim are investigating not only arson involving death, but murder.
Shortly thereafter, the terminally ill mother of the victim is also murdered. Bodenstein is deeply shaken. He has known both mother and son since childhood – for he grew up in the village. The investigation takes Pia and Oliver back 35 years in time. In the summer of 1982, Bodenstein’s best friend, Artur Berjakov, son of late repatriates from Russia, disappeared without a trace. The chief inspector has never overcome this childhood trauma. It quickly becomes apparent that many of the villagers would prefer to let bygones be bygones. What are they hiding? Nor can Bodenstein expect much help from his then “blood brothers”, Inka Hansen and Edgar Herold, the brother of the first victim.
Thus the police inspectors investigate a case brimming with hatred and violence, follow leads and stubbornly attempt to put together a frightening puzzle of evidence. But the entire village remains silent. Because he who tells all could be next on the death list.
The two-parter is based on the novel by the successful author Nele Neuhaus, who returned to the top of the bestseller list with her eighth Taunus thriller.
