Fresh from prison, Greg Bachmann (Horst Bucholz) is a young reporter who becomes the personal assistant to Cesar Boyd (Martin Held), a popular yellow journalist. With an important news deadline looming and nothing worthy to submit, Boyd concocts a fantastic story about a blind Nazi soldier who emerges from a bunker several years after the end of WWII.
Other reporters jump on the story, spinning a new web of lies. A phony picture of the blind man is splashed on the front page of newspapers throughout Europe. The Red Cross is besieged by grieving families who claim the man is their long-lost relative. A peaceful demonstration demanding his release turns into a full-scale riot.
Bachmann discovers Boyd's story is fraudulent and attempts to warn the public and other journalists that they've been duped - only to find they're more interested in hysteria than the truth.