Somewhere in the middle of some Balkan country, the Orient Express comes to a screeching halt (okay: maybe it doesn't actually screech). In one of the train's compartments, the lawyer Branko lays murdered (I'd make a comment, but I'd probably be sued by an outraged attorney with time on his hands). Commissar Ivanowich has a lot on his hands interrogating all the passengers on the train. But Ivanovich soon notices that not a few of the passengers didn't like the lawyer (isn't that hard to believe?).