Bernie Gunther is working for the German War Crimes Bureau based in Berlin during the winter of 1943. Reports have been circulating of a mass grave hidden in a wood near Smolensk. Rumor has it that the grave is full of Polish officers murdered by the Russians--a war crime that is perfect propaganda for Germany. But it needs a detective of subtle skill to investigate this horrific discovery. Cue Bernie Gunther.

Working in the Wehrmacht's War Crime Bureau of 1943 at the behest of an old friend, sardonic Berlin cop Bernie Gunther struggles to find proof of Russian responsibility for a mass shooting of Polish army officers in the hopes of destabilizing the Western Alliance.