During Hitler's anniversary speech on November 8, 1939, a man is arrested on the Swiss border for possession of suspicious objects. Just minutes later, a bomb explodes in the Munich Burgerbraukeller, immediately behind the Führer's lectern, killing eight people.The man is Georg Elser (Christian Friedel), a carpenter from Konigsbronn in the Swabia region.

When a map of the site of the assault and detonators are found on him, he is sent to the head of the Criminal Police in the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Arthur Nebe (Burghart Klaussner) and the head of the Gestapo, Heinrich Muller (Johann von Bulow) to be questioned.

From them, Elser learns that his attempt has failed - that the man he wanted to kill in order to stop the bloodshed of the World War that had just begun, has left the Bürgerbraukeller "13 Minutes" before the explosion.