Varsovie, 12 décembre 1942. Une prostituée vient d'être sauvagement assassinée. Selon un témoin, le meurtrier serait un général de la Wehrmacht. L'enquête est confiée au major Graü. Ce dernier ne tarde pas à suspecter trois hommes : le général Kahlenberg, le général Seidlitz-Gabler et le général Tanz, un homme parfois sujet à des pulsions maniaques, mais également un héros, le général favori d'Hitler. Durant une soirée organisée par la femme du général Gabler, sa fille Ulrike est présentée à Tanz, en vue de favoriser leur mariage. Mais celle-ci tombe dans les bras de Hartmann, un caporal revenant du front russe affecté auprès de Kahlenberg.

The main character, nicknamed "Teddy Bear" by his friends and acquaintances, is a manager of a sports club in Poland. One day he is detained at the border just as his sport team is off to a tournament. It appears that somebody has torn out a few pages from his passport. It occurs to him that perhaps his ex-wife has done it in order to get her hands on their joint account in a London bank. Therefore, he has to get to London as soon as possible in order to transfer the money to a different bank. The solution is taking part in a movie, made by his friend. The script requires a double role, thus the search for another actor is announced. The double has to apply for the passport, and that is solved through a girlfriend who agrees to play the dope's new fiancée. At the engagement party he is slipped a drug, and Teddy Bear runs off to the airport with the false passport. On the plane, however, he meets his ex-wife...