In the Danish port city of Belgesund, the caretaker of a private high school has fallen victim to murder. Detective Thomsen takes on the case and finds that behind the clean facade there are abysses. He has five suspects in mind: the teacher Berling, who is having a relationship with a student, the twin brother and sole heir of the murdered man, the murdered man's shady roommate, the primary school teacher Klaus Erikson and his brother Jakob.

A disillusioned Wehrmacht officer named Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944.

About how the British broke the Brazilian monopoly on natural rubber. The storyline suggests a complex relation between adventure, military conquest and imperialism.

When the dancer Carmen visits the bullfighter Antonio, who has stabbed a gypsy, in prison, she meets the dragoon brigadier José. The two immediately take a liking to each other, and from that day on, José often visits the café where Carmen dances. When Carmen injures another dancer in a jealous quarrel, José is ordered to arrest her...

They meet on the plane from Dakar to Casablanca: the well-known American defense lawyer Vandegrift, his daughter Jessie and the arrested Peter Roland, who allegedly kidnapped and murdered the famous film child Binnie Casilla in Stockford in 1928. Vandegrift, convinced of Roland's innocence, decides to represent the man at his upcoming sensational trial. But just as public opinion is increasingly questioning Roland's guilt, he testifies under pressure from prosecutor Adams. Now only Binnie herself can save the young man, but the search for her has so far been in vain...

In 1920, an unknown 24-year-old woman was fished out of Berlin's Landwehr kanal after a suicide attempt. Since she has no papers and no answers to any questions, they soon assign them to the insane asylum Dallendorf. A co-patient believes she recognizes the Czar's daughter Anastasia Romanowa - who apparently was the only one who survived the murder of the tsar's family in 1918.

Captain Harms still suffers from the bomb attack on his ship. He can not put up with sitting on land, but is afraid of take to the sea. Slowly he is becoming more and more frustrated and gradually falls into alcohol addiction.

The opera singer Maddalena had been cast out by her family after they learned she was to bear the child of a banker, von Keller, who had seduced and abandoned her. Her return to her native city has her father warn her to remain away, because she is a threat to her family, and her sister Marie's wedding. However, von Keller threatens the reputation of her family with an underhanded banking scheme. He commits suicide, and Maddalena is reconciled with her family.