Escaping a hit squad for a week - that is the task of Bernhard Lotz, candidate of the new television show "Millionenspiel". He is chased through the whole of Germany by the unscrupulous charcoal burner gang. If he holds out until the end, he takes the money home with him. But the killers have every reason to shoot the candidate, as they receive 120,000 Deutschmarks as a bounty. The programme managers, on the other hand, are only interested in one thing: the highest possible rating. This thriller tells the story of a deadly game show in a provocative way and is considered the forerunner of Stephen King's »The Running Man«. The semi-fictional style even irritated the viewers so much at the time that many came forward as candidates for the next shows. Dieter Hallervorden shines here in the role of a merciless killer and impressively demonstrates his talent for this subject.