Benjamin, a young German computer whiz, is invited to join a subversive hacker group that wants to be noticed on the world's stage.

Editor Eckernförde has come into the possession of an audiocassette that contains a recording of the last minutes of deceased politician Uwe Barschel. The circumstances of his untimely death have never been completely resolved - until now. Unfortunately, the editor's daughter Nina accidentally takes the tape with her to Munich, where she is about to visit her paralyzed Mom in a sanatorium. When this information reaches the CIA and the BND, both organizations compete to get hold of the tape. Meanwhile Erkan & Stefan, two loveable wannabe supercheckers from Munich, are assigned as bodyguards for Nina - of course, they are expected to mess up their job, so that the tape can be retrieved. But the two friends prove to be a bit more streetwise than CIA or BND ever expected.

Although he already has searched Iraq unsuccessfully for weapons of mass destruction as a member of a UN mission, German bio-weapons expert Arndt Wolf is still obsessed with the idea that Saddam Hussein is hiding something. Nobody around him is interested in this topic any more. This changes abruptly when an Iraqi asylum seeker claims to have been involved in the manufacture of chemical weapons. The German Federal Intelligence Service summons Dr. Wolf to ascertain the legitimacy of the claims made by the informant, who has been given the code name “Curveball”.

From 1970 to 1993, the Federal Intelligence Service and the CIA jointly eavesdropped on encrypted communications from more than 100 countries. This is proven by previously unpublished documents written by leading BND and CIA employees.