Somewhere in the Ruhr. Dortmunder, an ageing, but experienced burglar, Charlie, his modern, younger girl friend, Kelp, the dreamer, Mörsch, the car expert, and his tough mother, a cab driver, all belong to an amiable yet unsuccessful gang of petty thieves who haven’t landed a coup in years. This has got to change. So when Kelp finds a book called JIMMY THE KID, a cheap novel describing the non-violent kidnapping of a little boy, he sees it as a godsend.