Koln, 1913, Max, a music conductor, lives a happy but solitary life. His relationship with the beautiful conductor Margot is strained though, because he fears being her lover. After a concert, he tries to buy a signed copy of the new opera that Margot has performed in, but is surprised to learn that it is still unpublished. Meeting a small shop owner named Hachmann, Max buys a bottle of his ketchup and promises to exchange it for a signed paperback of the unpublished opera on delivery. Although the ketchup seller does not understand why Max wants this book so badly, he agrees and informs Max that the book will be delivered through post office box 31.
Shortly after, when at home, Margot receives an anonymous gift, in the form of a videotape depicting a sexual act. It is later revealed to be a present from Pey, her aunt, who wants Margot to make love to her nephew Franz, so this presents are meant as an invitation to try each other out.
Margot asks Max for help, but he refuses, since he feels that his own misery and failure have not made him any less unattractive to others. In the meantime, the manuscript that Max sent for, finally arrives in postbox 31, from Hachmann. While waiting outside, Max experiences strange chills and flashes of supernatural phenomena. He returns home and subsequently sneaks out again to see the events occurring. There, he discovers an apparition in the form a being named Juan and later, Max decides to bury the manuscript in the fields adjacent to his home. However, as Max leaves, he sees someone who appears similar to Margot but is then revealed to actually be a wooden dummy wielding a large knife. The dummy spots Max and tries to attack him, but fails to kill him due to the interference of Juan. Back at his house after hiding, Max receives a phone call from Margot that reveals a suspicious and disturbing secret about her family’s past. Upset, he decides to leave, presumably for good, whilst discovering that Juan, the apparition, also possesses powers of extrasensory perception and is capable of teleporting between locations. Juan comes to Max' house and guides him towards a local library, where he meets and befriends a mute boy called Berthold, whose possessions include a typewriter and a pocket watch which bears the name “On the Nicaraguan White Slave Traffic” written on the face. This boy is infatuated by Tove, and in an act of desperation for love, murders his sister Rózsi instead of Tove. Max takes Berthold home but notices that his pocketwatch reads 8:37, meaning the event described will occur at that time. At that point, Rózsi returns home due to recovering from an illness. Max attempts to save her and resurrects her from death, hoping
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