In Prague, dominated by a mysterious Castle where all power resides, a writer named Franz Kafka works for a large insurance company, where he is tyrannized by the ambiguous Bürgel. After going to the morgue to identify the body of his friend Eduard Raban, which has been recovered from the river, Kafka learns from Inspector Grubach that the police believe it was a suicide. Gabriella, however, who was Raban’s lover, is certain that he was murdered. She tries to recruit Kafka into the anarchist group to which she belongs, but the writer refuses. He does, however, agree to take Raban’s briefcase, which contains a bomb. Then Gabriella, too, disappears...