Felix Winterberg is the great-great-grandson of the famous Albert Einstein and himself a recognized physics genius. Because of a deadly hereditary disease, the brilliant researcher only has a few years left - which he wants to make as labor-intensive as possible thanks to various illegal stimulants.

A detective leaves the force to take over the family business as an undertaker at the same time as he is being investigated for murder. His close encounters with corpses and his earlier police training lead him to see things some of his ex-colleagues miss and he investigates the crimes he encounters in an unofficial capacity often to the dismay of the official police.

Countdown – Die Jagd beginnt is a German television series.