Commisaris Van der Valk has had a particularly long day when someone contacts the station to say that he has just killed his wife who he caught in bed with her lover. Mr. Boersma had been away for much of the week but came home early and caught them together. He claims that he shot them both with his pistol but when Inspector Johnny Kroon goes to investigate, he finds nothing out of place and certainly does not find the two bodies Boersma claimed would be there. When presented with the facts, Boersma says he must have had a mental breakdown of some sort and imagined the whole thing. Van der Valk suspects otherwise.

Van der Valk and Kroon investigate when a local prostitute reports that a man is dying. He's living in rooms above a bar and the police surgeon says he has no hope of recovering. While he can't be certain, he agrees with the police who feel that he may have been poisoned. As the police soon learn, the man and a partner may have been drug dealers but it's a very rare book that gets Van der Valk's interest. When a fingerprint check reveals that the dying man was supposed to have died in a car crash 20 years before, the police aren't sure just who they're dealing with.

When a world-famous Dutch violinist returns to Amsterdam for a rare performance, he receives a series of death threats. Someone even smashes his Stradivarius. Van der Valk can't fathom why anyone would want to hurt the virtuoso--but that doesn't mean the threat isn't real.

When the daughter of a controversial right-wing journalist disappears, Van der Valk has trouble keeping his personal feelings for the man private, despite warnings from his boss. The ransom demand leaves the detective perplexed and the father struggling with his past.

A young English aristocrat turns up dead in an Amsterdam canal, but his mother shows little interest in finding the killer. Van der Valk and Kroon begin to piece together the man's history, which leads them on a tour of the city's transvestite clubs and bars.

A deadly car crash has Van der Valk flummoxed--and fearful. Why was the victim carrying a gun and a photo of a local stonemason? No one shares his concern, however, including the mason, who dismisses the offer of police protection. But Van der Valk can't walk away just yet.