In 1947, Captain Alexander Ratnikov, a police officer, investigates a series of murders in Leningrad. The trail leads to Pavel Vedernikov, a technologist at a local fish farm. It is revealed that Vedernikov is actually a former deputy head of the Nazi concentration camp for children, Grachi, named Gunther Seiler. Seiler, who poses as a Soviet citizen, is on the hunt for his family's art collection, which was lost during the war. Seiler is willing to go to great lengths to obtain what he wants and escape the country. Ratnikov is determined to capture Seiler at any cost, as he is the only link to the captain's daughter, who disappeare...