Professor Wilkens has invented a formula for a new type of fuel and puts it on a microfiche that he sends to his daughter and her bodyguard, but multiple different mysterious groups, including the "Chinese Carnation", would kill to get their hands on it.

In 1923, Ludwig Bodmer, a young man returning from the war, works in the gravestone company of his comrade Georg Kroll during the period of inflation. Business is going well, but inflation robs them of their profits and people suffer under the circumstances of the time. The "lost generation" in particular, the survivors of the First World War, of which Ludwig is one, struggles to find a place in society.

Professor Wilkens has invented a formula for a new type of fuel and puts it on a microfiche that he sends to his daughter and her bodyguard, but multiple different mysterious groups, including the "Chinese Carnation", would kill to get their hands on it.