Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt calls upon Dr. Max Liebermann, a student of Freud, to help investigate the murder of a beautiful young medium. The mysterious circumstances of the case suggest a supernatural power is at work.

Max employs his psychoanalytic training to probe murder suspects' minds. Eventually, a thread emerges that takes Max and Oskar throughout Vienna. Solving the supernatural conundrum will threaten Oskar's career and ultimately Max's life.

Their latest investigation draws Max and Oskar into the sphere of nationalistic groups who despite Vienna's immigrants. Max's fiancee is provoked into taking daring risks before the murderer's shocking rationale is finally revealed.

When his nephew, a student at a military school, suffers a breakdown after a fellow cadet's death, Max calls on Oskar for help. The school prepares a new generation of military officers, but its barbaric traditions are hidden from the outside world.