The unscrupulous bar owner Otto Grolbek hires the masseur Janos Klewe to murder his landlady. He then wants to inherit her and get his hands on some urgently needed money. But things turn out differently than planned: Janos is killed during the attempted murder in Portugal and Vera returns to Germany terrified. Now Otto has to commit the crime himself and kills his landlady. He disguises the crime perfectly, but has not reckoned with Inspector Mungowski's subtlety ...

24 hours on the border between East and West Germany. In an outlying West Berlin district, police officers chat about their personal lives, take care of petty offence and at most, warn the odd rubbernecker away from the border to the “Soviet zone”. Meanwhile their East German counterparts are under enormous pressure. The day begins with disciplinary action after one of the border guards was found sleeping on duty. The supervisors demand utmost vigilance and a solid ideological bent, and suspicion and mistrust are the rule within the ranks of these soldiers of the National People’s Army (NVA). Unnoticed by the soldiers, four East Berlin students are preparing to flee to the west. But in the morning mists, only their accomplice, an NVA private, succeeds …