After eleven years' solitary confinement, Perahim, condemned for the murder of a policeman, is released prematurely due to unusually good conduct. He has a son, whom he now wishes to look after. Whilst in prison he has learned the trade of a carpenter, and now wants nothing more than to open his own workshop. But nobody will believe him. Chief Inspector Catran, Perahim's enemy of many years mistrusts him just as much as does Bogini, a formed accomplice.
Perahim tries to elude everyone: his former pals from the underworld, with whom he no longer wishes to be in collusion, the police commissioner, whom he does not wish to serve, neither as spy nor as bait, and Rosa, a night cub singer and former lover, who wants him all to herself. But he does not succeed.
Perahim: Heinz Bennent | Catran: Leon Askin | Rosa: Blanche Aubry | Bogini: Richard Münch | Anna: Anna Martins | Goller: Michael Janisch | Kress: Kurt Jaggberg | Vera: Annemarie Düringer | Claire: Kathina Kaiser
Director: Hans W. Geißendörfer | Script: Hans W. Geißendörfer, based on the novel "Gangster Maximilian Perahim" bz C.V. Gheorghiu | Camera: Robby Müller | Production: Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen | German 1973/74 | First screening on TV: 13.5.1974 | 104 minutes