Young Anna Hallbauer, daughter of a blind trumpeter, is suspected of infanticide. In the winter of 1802, children playing in a pond near the village of Sanden found the body of a newborn baby. Heinz Schirmer, a geographer appointed by Baron von Droste, has enough evidence to bring Hallbauer to trial. In the course of the proceedings, in which he believes he is serving absolute, infallible justice, he suddenly finds himself entangled in the crime...