Police Inspector Hunkeler is summoned back to Basel from his New Year holiday to unravel a gruesome killing in a gardening allotment on the city's outskirts. An old man known as Anton Fluckiger has been shot in the head and found hanging from a butcher's hook from the roof of his garden shed.
Set against the backdrop of Basel, this story follows police inspector Peter Hunkeler as he investigates a diamond smuggling case involving a Lebanese courier and a Turkish sewage worker named Erdogan. After the courier flushes the diamonds, Erdogan discovers them, envisioning a brighter future, while his relationship with Swiss girlfriend Erika becomes strained due to his hidden family. As Hunkeler delves deeper, he uncovers a web of crime involving powerful figures, highlighting the impact of crime on ordinary lives without resorting to violence.
It all begins with two murders, an old man and a prostitute, both strangled and left with their earlobes slit. Inspector Hunkeler of the Basel police investigates and is soon faced with the consequences of certain recent events in Swiss history that everyone wants to keep buried.