Junior doctor Max Liebermann asks to observe a criminal case for his studies. Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt reluctantly offers him full access to the case of a murdered woman.
Oskar is called away from Max and Clara’s engagement party with news of a murder in a Spittelberg brothel. Oskar is quick to make an arrest, but Max is not convinced that they have the right man.
At a family gathering, the Liebermanns are shocked by an act of violence from Max's nephew Daniel.
When a widowed Hungarian countess drowns in her bath at a luxury hotel, it is revealed that she has been suffering from melancholia - but a post-mortem reveals strychnine poisoning. Oskar joins up with Max to solve the riddle of why anyone would want her dead.
A beggar girl finds a mutilated corpse in Vienna's slum quarter. The secret services warn Oskar that the investigation is not the concern of the Leopoldstadt police. However, when Oskar receives anonymous messages relating to the murder, he can't resist delving further.
When a monk is found brutally murdered in his monastery, suspicions immediately falls on a Jewish man who publicly reprimanded the victim for spreading anti-Semitic rhetoric.
A young seamstress is murdered in a luxury fashion house. Oscar and Max are initially perplexed, but further clues are revealed when Max receives a letter at his new practice.
Max applies his neurological expertise to the case of a retired soldier, Captain Steiner, who is convinced that he is cursed and tortured by vengeful spirits.
When a famous film star dies during the premiere of her new film, Max and Oskar's investigation gets them embroiled in the dark underbelly of stardom and far-right politics.
Vienna, 1909. Oskar is baffled when the director of security agrees to a secret rendezvous with a notorious, recently captured criminal.
With Max in the hospital, Oskar is racked with guilt but is determined to unmask the traitor in the heart of the Austrian establishment. He realises just how powerful this enemy is when he finds himself framed for murder.
