Marnow, a picturesque town in the Mecklenburg Lake District, lies under a blanket of sweltering heat. Commissioners Frank Elling and Lona Mendt are investigating a murder. The motive seems clear, solving the crime just a question of time. Yet nothing is as it seems. The motive is revealed to be an intentionally misleading clue planted by the murderer, the apparently routine case the beginning of a series of murders with an explosive political-historical background. And powerful opponents of the commissioners have an interest in keeping the true connections in the dark.
The further along that the devoted family man Elling and the unapproachable Mendt get in their investigation, the more often they allow themselves to be swept up into morally highly questionable behavior. Gradually, events force these two extremely different characters to trust one another blindly – not least in order to save their own skins
