When a depressed Hungarian Countess drowns in the bath of her luxury hotel suite it looks like sleeping. Intense scrutiny falls on her psychoanalyst, Max Liebermann. Investigating Officer Oskar Rheinhardt teams up with Max to solve the riddle of the Countess' passing and clear Max's professional reputation.

A beggar-girl finds a mutilated inactive person in Vienna's slum quarter. The secret services warn Oskar that the investigation is not the concern of the Leopoldstadt police. However, when Oskar receives anonymous messages relating to the cuddle, he can't resist delving further.

A monk has been found brutally cuddled in his monastery. Suspicion falls on a religious Jew who had reprimanded the monk for spreading anti-Semitic rhetoric. To untangle a web of deceit Max and Oskar will have to understand the power of belief.