End of shift with a difference: the patrol car has run out of gas. Hubert and Staller argue in the bus about who is to blame for the dilemma when a cow blocks the road. Hubert drives the stubborn animal away with a warning shot. The bus driver spots the glow of a fire in the adjacent forest – has the cow fled from it?

On site, Hubert and Staller make a gruesome discovery: what is burning are the remains of a human being – and the culprit seems to be quickly found: the one-armed farmer Weidinger has hidden in the bushes and is immediately arrested.

For Police Superintendent Girwidz, the gruesome discovery comes at a very inopportune moment. His former superior, Police Director Schmitz from Dortmund, has unexpectedly announced his visit. Girwidz hopes that Schmitz, who is about to retire, is looking for a worthy successor and has already tasked Sonja and Riedl with getting the station up to scratch. Hubert and Staller are also supposed to help give Schmitz a fitting welcome, but the two would rather focus on the case.