Nikolaus Kaminsky is a former police profiler who has been living in seclusion for 20 years, with no contact with the outside world. Only his neighbor's daughter Simone manages to coax him out of his shell from time to time. When he threatens the 12-year-old with a knife for no apparent reason one day, detectives Jäger, Kraft, and Hoffmann are called in. The police are actually busy with a kidnapping case, but when Kaminsky casually leads the investigators to the solution of the case, a long-forgotten case of child murders suddenly becomes relevant again. The last victim of the serial killer, who remains unknown to this day, was Kaminsky's daughter. When Kaminsky then warns the police about a new kidnapping case, the suspicion arises that the killer, believed to be dead, is back at work.

Detectives Karl Jäger and Lola Kraft are investigating again. An inconspicuous family man saves a young woman from being raped and uses unexpected skills that not only attract the attention of himself, but also of the police. But it is not just his mysterious past that troubles the amnesiac victim, but also a killer squad. Who is after him? And what is the mystery of his past?

This time, Tatort Calw takes us to the stage, the world's greatest stage. During an amateur theater performance, a version of Romeo & Juliet "translated" into Swabian, a shot is fired according to the script. But the bullet was not a blank. The result: undertaker and amateur actor Günther Jourdan lies dead on the stage. A new case for Calw detectives Jäger, Kraft, and Hoffmann, who now find themselves confronted with a multitude of quarrels, motives, and suspects within the theater troupe. Secret affairs, property disputes, pregnancies, and personal animosities. The theater people are like a prime-time soap opera on private television. However, when the alleged perpetrator is identified, there is a surprising twist.

The brutal murder of a retired judge draws detectives Lola Kraft and Jasmin Stein into the case. Was a former "client" of the victim out for revenge? Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Karl Jäger faces entanglements within his own family that escalate into a direct confrontation with a drug lord. The explosive finale unfolds at the "Badischer Hof".