A murdered customs official who was living way beyond his means - Stuttgart inspectors Lannert and Bootz can't help but suspect abuse of authority, even if they can't prove it. But as they delve deeper into the victim's apparently lucrative sideline, they come across a name that makes Lannert bristle: Victor de Man. The elegant, worldly, charismatic Belgian has long been involved in arms dealing. But what neither Lannert's partner Bootz nor his homicide colleagues know is that Lannert had infiltrated himself into de Man's operation in Hamburg as an undercover cop. But just as he was about to nail de Man for good, his cover was blown and de Man ordered his murder. Lannert survived and transferred to Stuttgart. He now meets up again with de Man and a trial of strength begins to unfold between the two of them. Lannert knows that de Man didn't personally kill the customs official, but had one of his henchmen do the job. He also knows that he can only get de Man behind bars for good if he can prove that he's smuggling arms outside the country. But de Man is much too clever to fall into a trap - and he still has excellent contacts at the Customs Office…