The hunt for the "Krampuskiller" has left its mark on the psyche of detective Ellie Stocker and her Austrian colleague Gedeon Winter is in a coma. When a young tourist is found dead near Salzburg, German and Austrian criminal police have to work together again.

The ambitious young civil servant Yela Antic is allowed to prove her skills for the first time as a liaison officer in the case of the German Tonia Roth, who was murdered in Austria. The body was found in the Zill valley near a river and the murder has distinctive features. Meanwhile, Ellie Stocker has to take a forced break because she's been struggling with flashbacks since the "Krampuskiller" case. Only when another young woman is murdered does she meet Gedeon again.