On the picturesque Hörnbrücke in the middle of Kiel, the employee of a handling company, Jochen Harmsen, is shot dead by a sniper on his way to work. An act of terrorism? The act of a madman? The whole of Kiel is shocked. In this atmosphere of fear Klaus Borowski takes over the investigation - and in fact the lovable family man Harmsen seems to be a random victim: there is no evidence of a motive. Psychologist Frieda Jung looks after the victim's traumatized colleague, Simone Ehrt, who witnessed the murder first-hand. She puts Borowski on a first lead: Spreading fear is often an important goal for psychopathic snipers, and Borowski also feels fear when he suddenly encounters the sniper at night and finds himself helplessly at his mercy.
After that, it is clear to Borowski: The murderer is pursuing a specific goal with his crime and it does not seem to be a coincidence that Simone Ehrt is not only afraid, but apparently also feels threatened. But while Borowski follows this lead, an ongoing murder trial at the district court chaired by Judge Voigt increasingly requires his attention: Borowski has to testify against the child murderer Torben Meier, whom he convicted himself - according to the prosecutor a "self-starter". But to Borowski's horror, the trial takes a surprising turn when he is confronted with the accusation that he extorted the child killer's confession.
Criminal defense attorney Thies Nissen cleverly uses the allegations, even forcing Frieda Jung to take the stand to shake Borowski's credibility, and soon everything looks like Torben Meier will be acquitted. Borowski must prevent this at all costs, he owes it to the mother of the dead child. But it shows how far law and justice are often far apart when Judge Voigt repeatedly follows the requests of defense attorney Thies Nissen while still strictly adhering to the law. So Borowski can only prevent the release of the child killer if he finds new evidence.
Feverishly he sets to work until he encounters an atmosphere of fear again and discovers uncanny parallels to Simone Ehrt - is there a connection between the sniper and Torben Meier's trial? Borowski does everything in his power to answer this question and is once again in danger. Finally, even Frieda Jung's life is threatened before Borowski can convict the sniper and prevent a child murderer from getting away scot-free.