Commissioner Nikolas Heldt starts his career in the Bochum police criminal division in a long-running human trafficking case, using unconventional methods to catch mob baron Felix Bricheaux, for which stickler chief commissioner Detlev Grün wants him suspended. State prosecutor Hinrichs protects him but dies from a cardiac crisis, his successor Ellen Bannenberg grants the suspension during in internal investigation. Felix walks from court after key witness Natalia Sokolowa, whose skin Heldt saved, fails to testify. Heldt gets Bannenberg to help find out what hold Felix has on her, guessing rightly it's a child.