With the discovery of a young seamstress murdered in a luxury fashion house, Max and Oskar learn that the world of couture conceals sinister secrets. When two more similar victims are discovered, Max and Oskar doggedly pursue the few clues.

Max applies his neurological expertise to the case of a disturbed veteran who is convinced he is cursed. And when the captain is found dead in a particularly gruesome fashion, Max and Oskar are not convinced that it was suicide.

The investigation into the captain's death reveals a dark secret going back to the Boxer Rebellion in China. The search for an explanation leads Max and Oskar on a dangerous odyssey into the antiquities trade and the opium dens of Vienna's Chinatown.

It's 1908 and the magical new world of cinema has captured the imagination of the Viennese public. When tragedy strikes at a film premiere, Max and Oskar investigate the murder of a famous actress, a former patient at Max's hospital.