Fred is a journalist who investigates the death of a man in room 36. He interviews the man's widow and her deranged mother for clues as to how the man died in a hotel room that is rented by the hour. Also under suspicion is a stranger named Becker who lives next to the room where the killing took place.

A teenager named Kurrat mysteriously disappears from a German boys' school. Then a teacher is found dead; the mystery grows.