After a fierce argument Steffi Zinn′s husband leaves the joint flat and stays away from home over night. The next morning, his wife Steffi has disappeared and is reported as a missing person. Captain Lohm takes over the case and at first looks for signs of a murder, but to no avail. Then, Steffi′s body is found in a lake. After her funeral, a stranger who had attended Steffi′s funeral for a short time is also found dead in a lake, and the connection between the two cases becomes apparent.

Polizeiruf 110 is a long-running German language detective television series. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the German Democratic Republic, and after the dissolution of Fernsehen der DDR the series was picked up by ARD. It was originally created as a counterpart to the West German series Tatort, and quickly became a public favorite.

The young communist Artur Becker fights with the Interbrigades against the Franco putschists during the Spanish Civil War. He had experienced his baptism of fire in Germany at the time of the Weimar Republic during the Kapp Putsch. He was seriously wounded and arrested. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, he was interrogated several times by Spanish and German putschists and then shot.