A walker saw a man lying under a rock in the woods and Lena Odenthal made her way to the scene of the crime. When the commissioner arrives there is no trace of the man. While searching for clues to the man's whereabouts, she is knocked out from behind and taken hostage by five youths. As it turns out, these are young people from a nearby rehabilitation camp who killed their group leader and are now on the run. Lena Odenthal is to serve as their hostage. While Lena tries to keep the youngsters in check and prevent the situation from escalating further, Mario Kopper desperately tries to find his colleague's whereabouts in order to come to her aid.
A race against time and the adverse weather in the forest begins, because the stress of the hike and the escape from the police make the young people more and more aggressive and dangerous. Mario Kopper desperately tries to follow Lena's trail and free his colleague from the hostage-takers.