In the grip of a Siberian winter in 1902, a serial killer in Vienna embarks upon a bizarre campaign of murder Vicious mutilation, a penchant for arcane symbols, and a seemingly random choice of victim are his most distinctive peculiarities Detective Inspector, Oskar Rheinhardt summons a young disciple of Freud - his friend Dr Max Liebermann - to assist him with the case The investigation draws them into the sphere of Vienna's secret societies - a murky underworld of German literary scholars, race theorists, and scientists inspired by the new evolutionary theories coming out of England