Investigative journalist Imke Leopold is on the trail of a supposedly illegal real estate deal on the island of Norderney. When she asks Thorsten Falke for help in clearing up the matter, the inspector of the federal police reacts skeptically at first. When Imke is the victim of an attack shortly afterwards, which she survives only by luck, Falke regrets his hesitation and asks his colleague Julia Grosz to investigate with him on the island. Does the attack have something to do with a large-scale construction project that was waved through due to the approval of some local politicians on the island? The Norderney-based lawyer and real estate agent who set up the deal and hinted at it to Imke unfortunately fails to turn up as an informant. Falke and Grosz find him beaten to death in his house.