Berlin, 1942. Three players take the stage. The first, a gorgeous actress--the rising star of a giant German film company controlled by the Propaganda Ministry. The second, the very clever, very dangerous Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels--a close confidant of Hitler, ambitious schemer, and flagrant libertine. Finally, there's Bernie Gunther--a former Berlin homicide bull now forced to run errands at the Propaganda Minister's command.

When Goebbels tasks Bernie with finding the woman the press have dubbed "the German Garbo, " his errand takes him from Zurich to Zagreb to the killing fields of Croatia. It is there that Bernie finds himself in a world of mindless brutality where everyone has a hidden agenda--perfect territory for a true cynic whose instinct is to trust no one.