The village of Seefeld (Tyrol) has just been the scene of a tragedy: Wollmer, owner of the sawmill and of most of the country, a hard and rapacious man, has just been assassinated. Everyone hated him and Friedrich, the commissioner in charge of the investigation, will have to work hard to find the culprit. Arrives Wollmer's widow, who was going through a divorce. A foreman, Franz, offers to help him. But she receives anonymous letters offering her the name of the murderer for money.