The focus of the series is the psychologist Stefan Schwab, who is actually only looking for the proverbial "Boarian Rua" in the tranquil foothills of the Alps after an overwork, burnout and divorce. Instead, he is reluctantly drawn into the bloody awakening of ancient legends: children disappear, "sinners" are murdered and archaic sagas suddenly become deadly topical. Forced by his old friend Thomas Falbner from the Rosenheim detective, the psychologist Schwab follows the bloody tracks of dark fairy tale motifs in the Bavarian idyll; supported by the witty and skeptical policewoman Anna Leitner and his sharp-tongued ex-wife Susanne.