Barry Kohler, a young amateur
Nazi hunter, spies on a meeting of the fugitive Nazi organisation
Kameraden in
Paraguay. At this meeting, infamous
Auschwitz doctor
Josef Mengele issues instructions for the assassinations of 94
civil servants in Western Europe and North America, all of them low-ranking and aged around 65, on particular dates over the next two years. Kohler telephones Ezra Lieberman, a famous (as well as penniless and cynical) Nazi hunter living in
Vienna, to inform him of his discovery. While still on the phone, Kohler is surprised by the
Kameraden and killed. With the help of his sister Esther, British journalist Sidney Beynon and
Jewish-American vigilante leader David Bennett, Lieberman begins investigating the deaths of civil servants fitting the profile who die suddenly over the next few months. He is struck by the fact that all of the dead men have sons aged 13 who look exactly alike, with pale skin, dark hair and blue eyes. He discovers that all of the boys were
illegally adopted and that some of the adoptions were facilitated by
Kameraden member Frieda Maloney, who has since been jailed. Lieberman interviews Maloney, who tells him that the boys were provided by an intermediary in
Brazil. She mentions that one of the adoptive fathers she dealt with, American Henry Wheelock, gave her a newborn puppy in exchange for her baby. Seeking an explanation for the boys' identical appearance, Lieberman consults the biologist Dr Bruckner, who explains the principles of
cloning. Lieberman deduces that the boys are clones of
Adolf Hitler, all created from a single
DNA sample by Mengele, who has also been seeking to ensure that their childhoods imitate that of the original Hitler by having them adopted by parents who resemble Hitler's own abusive father
Alois (a civil servant in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire) and doting mother
Klara. All in the hopes that their later lives will follow the same course, and that as adults they will establish
new Nazi regimes in their respective countries. The murders of the fathers are part of this plan, designed to reflect the death of Alois when Hitler was 13. Based on this revelation, and the age of Maloney's dog, Lieberman realises that Henry Wheelock is due to be murdered in just four days' time. Alarmed by the progress of Lieberman's investigation and Mengele's increasingly erratic behaviour (after he beats one of his men nearly to death for killing his target on the wrong date), the
Kameraden leadership attempts to shut down the project, but Mengele escapes. Lieberman travels to rural
Pennsylvania to warn Henry Wheelock, only to discover that Wheelock has already been murdered by Mengele, posing as Lieberman. The doctor badly wounds Lieberman with a gunshot, but is then cornered by the family's vicious
Doberman Pinschers (Mengele fears dogs). When Wheelock's son Bobby arrives home from school, Mengele attempts to tell him about his real origins. He makes no attempt to deny killing Wheelock, telling Bobby that he must rise above his worthless adoptive family and embrace his destiny. This enrages the boy, who orders the dogs to kill Mengele. Lieberman recovers a list from Mengele's pocket detailing the identities of all 94 clones, and then collapses from blood loss. As Lieberman recuperates in hospital, he is visited by Bennett who asks him to hand over the list so that his vigilante group can eliminate the clones. Lieberman refuses and instead burns the list, declaring that they are innocent children who may yet grow up to be harmless. The final scene shows Bobby Wheelock gazing in fascination at photographs he took of Mengele's mauled corpse. ==Cast==