In war-torn Germany, a string of violent murders of young men and boys plagues a small town.

The culprit is Fritz Haarman, a gay man with a history of petty crimes who works in the community as a government inspector.

Meanwhile, Fritz carries on a tempestuous relationship with his adult male lover, Hans, engaging in petty schemes to make money.

Frau Linder witnesses him leaving the apartment in the middle of the night with several bundles of matter wrapped in parchment paper.

The next day, Fritz socializes with Dora, his friend, and approaches a teenage piano player in a restaurant.

Just as he bites into the teenager's throat, police break into the apartment, alarmed by the young man's screams.

[4] Roger Ebert rated the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, calling it " a nasty little melodrama, lurid and creepy and sometimes bordering on demented humor.

[8] Clayton Dillard of Slant Magazine awarded the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, writing "If Tenderness of the Wolves works on a reflexive register, it’s due to Raab’s performance, which consistently displays his own homosexuality in a fashion that blurs lines between fiction and documentary, albeit a bit coarsely, since Lommel often trains his camera on Haarmann’s sexual encounters to milk their exploitative potential.