Grimmer is a freelance journalist. Currently, he is investigating abuses that may have occurred in the kinderheim (orphanages) of the former East Germany. When East Germany still existed, he traveled around the world as a spy who posed as a newspaper journalist.

Pedrov has been shot. Before he dies, he hands Grimmer the key to a safety-deposit box that contains the data and tapes of his old experiments. Grimmer is abducted by mysterious men who are after the key.