While private investigator Johann Friedrich von Allmen and his assistant Carlos are still celebrating the successful recovery of the valuable Dahlia picture, Carlos’ life partner Maria Moreno disappears. Not a lovers’ tiff, as Allmen’s factotum assumes at first, but the brutal revenge of those who feel they were robbed. Maria in exchange for the Dahlia picture – that is the kidnappers’ demand. But they did not reckon with old Dalia Gutbauer. For she is unwilling to hand over the picture, and has her own ideas about what she wants to do with it. This, of course, puts Allmen, Carlos and Maria in an extremely precarious situation. They need to act fast, and they all give their best in a dramatic race against time.

Jonas Brand has no idea about the adventure that awaits him, when the intercity train comes to an abrupt halt. The train is unable to continue because of a dead body on the tracks. Brand immediately shoulders his camera, records the nightmarish events and interviews his fellow passengers. He is a freelance journalist, but one who dreams of bigger things. He wants to make films, and his project ›Montecristo‹, a story of betrayal, deception and late revenge, has blockbuster potential – if only someone would give him a chance. When he falls in love with Marina Ruiz, who charms him into revealing his dream, the project steps back into his focus. Just three months later, fate deals him another bizarre card: two onehundred Swiss Franc notes with identical serial numbers – both of which, as the bank confirms with amazement, are genuine. Then Brand’s apartment is ransacked and he gets beaten up and robbed in broad daylight. Someone clearly wants to throw him off the track that he is just about to embark on.