The Waiting Time plot
The female corporal Tracey Baines, employed by the British secret service, commits an apparently unprovoked attack on the influential German politician Dieter Krause. After this dramatic incident, Tracey meets Joshua Mantle, a lawyer's clerk, who becomes involved in the case when the British Secret Service turns Tracey's mother's house upside down in their search for clues as to the motive behind Tracey's attack. on Krause. Tracey and Krause are linked by a murder case that took place some ten years earlier. This was related to espionage practices against former East Germany and, in particular, the conduct of the unpopular Stasi, the state security service. After her release, Tracey travels to Berlin. Joshua is forced to follow her. The two soon become involved in a deadly game of cat and mouse as Tracey seeks to uncover the truth about the 1988 death of her lover in East Germany.