The Collini case

What drives a man to murder who has never done anything? An old man is shot in a hotel room. The perpetrator is silent about his motives for the murder. Caspar Leinen is appointed as an ex officio lawyer and his search for the reasons for the crime leads him back in time. Fabrizio Collini shot in room no. 400 Hotel Adlon of Hans Meyer, an eighty-five-year-old industrialist. He has waited and remained silent all his life. Even after his arrest, he won't talk. The case will be handled by young ex officio defence lawyer Caspar Leinen. His client confesses to the crime, but refuses to reveal his motive. How to defend a man who doesn't want to defend himself, the lawyer wonders. In his search for the reasons for the murder, Leinen discovers that he himself had a close bond with the murdered man, having spent the happiest moments of his life in his home in his youth. Leinen's search in the Provincial Archives turns the case around, where he discovers shocking information that sheds light on the motive for the murder. At the same time, however, a terrible truth about the German legal system is coming to light.