in 1972, in Munich, the 16-day Oktoberfest is being celebrated with an orgy of drinking, gluttony and sexual abandon; in the midst of all the riotous excess comes a shocking series of killings: a deranged murderer is on the loose, hacking his victims to death with a meat cleaver.. the police inspector thinks he discerns a bizarre pattern and is driven by conscience to explore the possible relationship between these crimes and the most hideous butchery of all...