Vietnam as more than just the scene of a war of the past - in the midst of the slow transition from communist mismanagement to modern capitalism, Vietnam today is divided between coming to terms with the past and a belief in progress.
Inspector Lukas Laim has the rope from which a corpse is hanging from the bridge on Prater Island cut. There are strange red marks on its stomach. The dead man is a notary from Grünwald who is well known in the city as a patron of Jewish art. And the marks on his stomach are in Hebrew and mean "retribution". Retribution for what? And why the Hebrew writing? Shortly afterwards, Laim learns of a blackmail letter to his mother, signed with the Hebrew word "Shilem". The blackmailers demand 80,000 euros so that the public does not find out that Laim's grandfather made his fortune in the course of Aryanization.
