In a small town in Lower Saxony, federal police officers Thorsten Falke and Katharina Lorenz are tailing an African asylum seeker who is suspected of dealing in forged passports for a gang of smugglers. During the arrest that followed, a violent physical altercation ensued between Falke and the suspect. The alleged smuggler is taken into police custody overnight to be interrogated the next day. In the morning, Falke and Lorenz learn that an accident happened during the night and the man died under circumstances that are still unclear. Falke starts investigating on his own with Lorenz. The "crime scene: burned" refers to the real case of Oury Jalloh from Sierra Leone, who burned to death in police custody in Dessau in 2005.