Chief Inspector Claudius Zorn has taken a liking to dogs, dachshund Dumbo never leaves his side. This is also the case on that winter evening when, during their walk in the city forest, the animal finds a severed man's hand. It has been chopped off with a sharp object, and two fingers are missing. But there are no clues as to the identity of the victim, who has disappeared without a trace. Is he still alive? Is he being held somewhere, threatened?
Zorn and his colleague Schröder can't let the matter rest, and they begin to investigate. Even when Zorn gets into a heated argument with his wife Frieda, the senior public prosecutor in charge of the case, he doesn't give up. Until he finally finds himself in front of Heinlein's delicatessen. And shortly afterwards in a place where only one thing awaits him: death.
