Germany, Cologne, 1390 A.D. A prosperous city with rare offenses; in the local office of the Inquisition, boredom and idleness reign. A young investigator, Kurt Hesse—recently transferred there and suffering from boredom—grabs hold of what appears at first glance to be a completely ordinary incident: the death in sleep of a student from the local university. For the novice inquisitor, it will be necessary to plunge into the life of a student fraternity, join a dangerous game with the highest nobility and the clergy.