Shortly after his arrival in Algiers, the German arms manager Peter Richter is kidnapped together with his bodyguard. A security guard is brutally killed in the process. The Algerian authorities seem to be unclear about the kidnappers. However, they are also making little effort to support the German Embassy and the Foreign Office in their search for the abductees. The new head of the Middle East department at the Foreign Office, Katharina Prinz, who was previously ambassador to Algeria, asks Ralf Eley, the BKA liaison officer at the embassy, to conduct his own investigation.