It is Vienna 1902. In a city alive with art, philosophy, music and science a beautiful medium has been found shot dead and Dr. Max Liebermann, a young disciple of Sigmund Freud, is called upon to help his friend Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt investigate her death. The room containing the body has been locked from the inside and a cryptic note suggests a malevolent supernatural power is as work. Using the new science of psychoanalysis, Liebermann probes the minds of the suspects in an attempt to unravel this bewildering crime.