In a Vienna bookshop the Argentine chemist Rafaelo Aranda is poisoned by the bookseller Valerie Steinfeld.
He finds out that his father has developed chemical weapons of mass destruction and offered to sell them to the United States, the Soviet Union and France.
Manuel Aranda learns that Valerie Steinfeld was involved in a risky paternity trial during the Third Reich.
The friend had no Jewish background and was a registered member of the Nazi Party.
With the help of Irene Waldegg, the niece of Valerie Steinfeld, Manuel Aranda finds out about the Nazi past of his father.