Eight-year-old Magdalena does not show up at school on Monday morning. Inspectors Eva Saalfeld and Andreas Keppler launch a large-scale manhunt. When the parents are questioned, it turns out that they have not seen their child since Sunday afternoon. Magdalena had made her way to the school garden, where she personally tends a bed. Surprisingly, the parents don't seem shocked by their child's disappearance and are confident that prayer and deep faith in God will lead to a happy ending. While investigating Magdalena's way to school, Keppler discovers traces of the kidnapping and thus the scene of the crime, a disused staircase in a pedestrian tunnel. The commissioners are preparing a mass genetic test, which they are also announcing in the media.
In the middle of their investigation, the news bursts that there has been a fatal accident at the home of a teacher at Magdalena's school. Keppler does not believe in coincidence and looks for the child in the house - without success. It turns out that the dead teacher's DNA matches the evidence from the tunnel. Is Wolfgang Prickel the kidnapper? Did he kill himself for fear of the announced genetic test? But where did he hide the girl? Monika Prickel vehemently denies that her husband had anything to do with the girl's disappearance. The thought that little Magdalena is struggling with death in her hiding place does not let the inspectors come to rest.