1922: Hulda Gold is a midwife and she is smart, fearless and extremely popular in the neighbourhood since the fate of her female patients is extremely close to her heart. Especially as she encounters not only new life, but also death. In the notorious Bülowbogen, one of the city's many slums, Hulda looks after a pregnant woman. The young woman is devastated because her neighbour was found dead in the Landwehrkanal; allegedly a tragic accident. But why is the opaque detective commissioner Karl North so interested in the case? And why is Hulda so attracted to him? She investigates and gets deeper and deeper into the abysses of a city where shadow and light are so close together.