In 1919 Prague, Czechoslovakia, a man is strangled in an alley. The killer laughs uncontrollably as he rummages through the dead man’s pockets and finds a photograph, which he hands to an observer standing nearby. A few days later, Kafka, an insurance claims writer, pauses from his work and notices the empty desk across from him. Burgel, the office manager, prompts the daydreaming man to get back to work. Later that afternoon, Burgel reprimands another worker, Gabriela, for her tardiness. When the woman storms out of the office, Kafka follows her, inquiring about their mutual acquaintance, Eduard Raban. Gabriela, bewildered, dismisses Kafka’s questions. After work, Kafka stops at an apartment building and asks to be let into Eduard’s rooms. Finding no one inside, Kafka goes to the Café Continental, where he asks patrons if they have seen his friend. He notices Gabriela sitting with comrades and again mentions that he cannot locate Eduard. This time, she acknowledges his distress. When Kafka leaves, Gabriela’s anarchist friends insist on knowing what she has revealed to her coworker. Kafka walks home, gazing at the castle on the hill above the city. A passerby enthuses about Kafka’s short stories, which he enjoys reading. The man introduces himself as Bizzlebek, a sculptor. The two part ways, and Kafka returns home, where he writes a letter to his father. Just then, two men knock on Kafka’s door and escort him to the morgue, where he identifies the body of his friend, Eduard Raban. Kafka grows increasingly nervous as he tries to explain his relationship to Eduard to the inspector, Grubach. However, Grubach surprises Kafka by suggesting they may have mutual interests in finding out what happened to the dead man. At work the next day, Kafka’s boss offers him a promotion that had been intended for Eduard. However, Kafka is unimpressed with his new assistants, Ludwig and Oscar. Gabriela stops by and invites the writer on a walk. Outside, she confesses that she and Eduard were having an affair. She urges Kafka to help her find out what happened to her lover. That night, Kafka meets Gabriela and her friends in an abandoned building. They reveal that Eduard was a member of their revolutionary cause. Kafka listens in disbelief as they recount how one of Eduard’s insurance claims could only be resolved by a visit to the castle, a place despised by the anarchists. On the day of his appointment there, Eduard, a loyal extremist, intended to carry a briefcase bomb. However, there were never any reports of an explosion, and Eduard was never heard from again. The anarchists suspect the police of covering up Eduard’s murder. Angry at their random conjectures, Kafka leaves the building. Meanwhile, the laughing man kidnaps a vagrant sleeping in a park. The next day, Kafka meets Gabriela at Eduard’s apartment. As the woman sorts through her lover’s belongings, she cautions Kafka against opening a briefcase. Kafka asks if it is the bomb her friends spoke of, but Gabriela loses patience with his questions and leaves the apartment. Kafka goes to the window, surprised when Gabriela does not emerge onto the street below. Thinking she has been kidnapped, he calls Inspector Grubach. However, Grubach makes light of the woman’s disappearance. That night, Kafka stops by the Café Continental. Gabriela’s friends insist there is a conspiracy between Kafka’s insurance firm and the castle. The next day at work, Kafka asks to see Eduard’s file, but his boss says it contains nothing of interest. However, the writer learns the name of the insurance claim that Eduard planned to take to the castle. Kafka goes to the file room and locates the claim, a large volume documenting numerous accidental deaths at the Orlac factory. Kafka notices a photograph missing from the death record of “Dr. Murnau.” Kafka returns to his office, forced to work overtime when Burgel brings him a stack of claims at the end of the day. Late that night, Kafka is startled by the sound of breaking glass in the bathroom. When he investigates, the laughing man lunges through a window. Kafka flees the building and goes to the anarchists’ hideout, where he discovers they have been murdered. He spies a well-dressed man praising and escorting a lobotomized vagrant from the crime scene. Kafka follows the two men to the outskirts of town. As the vagrant is executed, Kafka stumbles in the bushes, alerting the well-dressed man to his presence. A chase ensues, but Kafka eludes capture. Later, he returns to his apartment, but before he can enter, Ludwig and Oscar confront him at gunpoint, delighted at the prospect of turning someone in to the castle. Just then, Bizzlebek rescues Kafka. He offers to help the writer gain access to the castle. Carrying Eduard’s briefcase, Kafka makes his way through a secret passageway underneath the castle, before emerging in a great file room. From there, he walks along empty corridors, entering several rooms but not finding the medical records office. Finally, a doctor asks if he can help. As they walk to the records office, the doctor explains that the castle’s medical team is working on creating a “more efficient” person. When the man remarks that another insurance claims writer recently paid a visit to their records office, Kafka realizes he is speaking to Dr. Murnau. The doctor reveals that Orlac factory workers are being used as subjects for the castle’s medical experiments. Upon a worker’s demise, the insurance firm processes a claim of “accidental” death, thus raising no suspicions. Horrified, Kafka tries to leave, but Dr. Murnau forces the writer to observe one of the medical procedures. Just then, the briefcase bomb explodes, and Kafka scrambles up scaffolding to the ceiling, escaping the castle. Back on the streets, Inspector Grubach’s men locate Kafka and escort him to the morgue. There, Kafka identifies the body of Gabriela Rossman. Although he suspects Gabriela was subjected to experiments at the castle, the writer uneasily agrees when Grubach pronounces her death a suicide. Kafka returns to his job at the insurance firm, plagued by a severe cough. In his spare time, he writes letters to his father, expressing his disillusionment with life.