Just a moment ago, the happy bride Sandra felt as if she were still in heaven. But now, a single short sentence shatters all her dreams: "Tim is dead." Her mother, Roswitha, can only comfort her daughter by holding her close. That morning, Nele and her colleague Paul had fished Tim Kreindel's body out of Lake Constance. All hopes rested on the talented young chef to restore the once-renowned restaurant "Fischerhütte"—run by Roswitha—to its former glory. Sandra's brother Stefan, whose down-to-earth cuisine had led to the restaurant's decline, was a guest at the fatal bachelor party. But is his demotion to assistant chef motive enough to murder Tim? And what about Urs Holtmann, who is discovered by Jakob and Julia sleeping on a park bench not far from the crime scene, shirtless and with a blood alcohol level of 1.4 per mille? He gives Jakob a black eye as a greeting and gives Julia a huge scare. She used to date Urs and quickly finds herself in a dilemma. Urs claims to have a blackout and quickly becomes the number one murder suspect.

Actor Michael Hartmann has seen better days. The TV star, once celebrated as the "Alpine Cop," is now reading from his new book to an exclusive audience in Meersburg. Among them are Nele and Paul, whom Hartmann still knows from his school days. But suddenly, a sinister bomb device with a timer causes panic. The tension escalates even further when a caller—former KSK commando Rainer Schladen—makes his demands clear: The detectives have three hours to get Hartmann to reveal the truth about the death of his wife, who had eloped with the "Alpine Cop." He claims Hartmann killed her. If Hartmann doesn't confess to the murder, all three of them will die.

It's rare for such an innocent hobby as birdwatching to end in death. The Washington Post found Sam Birkner, an unemployed amateur ornithologist, at an illegal dumping site on the shore of Lake Constance. The man had been observing not only birds but also people—such as Judge Marla Kohnen, who regularly dismissed Birkner's complaints on the grounds that they were trivial. But the judge was biased, as Nele discovers. She knows Ludwig Kienast, the target of most of Birkner's complaints. The troublemaker Birkner also harassed the renowned ornithologist Kati Hendricks. Sam Birkner accused her of errors in her doctoral dissertation and wanted to make that public. Finally, Jakob and Julia wonder why, of all people, the resolute Ms. Nökel claims to have had a good relationship with Birkner. The curious neighbor failed to notice, of all things, the break-in during which a computer was stolen. The case is becoming increasingly murky.