Beate Nelkin is a by-the-book Hamburg judge who sentences repeat offender Katja to another stint in the slammer. When Beate returns home to her apartment that night, she is swiftly kidnapped by Katja's lame-brained lover, Henning, who drives her to a remote mining shack owned by his hillbilly mom, Emmi. Henning demands the release of Katja, who by this time has already escaped prison and is heading to the shack with her lawyer and a cop hot on her trail.