In Sins of the Fathers, the first game in the series, we meet Gabriel Knight, a charming and rakish writer from New Orleans, who manages to survive by running a rare book shop called St George's. His nights are tormented by a recurring nightmare depicting a mysterious tragedy set in the past, which ends with his death; in addition to this, his newest novel with a voodoo theme is not proceeding as he would like.

His situation changes radically when he follows the track of a series of brutal murders taking place in the city - murders which seem to be linked to the ancient New Orleans voodoo cult. Hoping to get some inspiration for his book, Gabriel starts investigating on his own and as the clues thicken, they seem to lead to Malia Gedde, an upper-class and inaccessible woman with whom Gabriel falls in love. But the clues also lead, surprisingly, to Gabriel himself. Is it coincidence or destiny?

A shadow lies on his family history, and the sins of the fathers will fall on their descendants. To save his life and those of his dear ones, Gabriel will have to confront his fate, and make the most difficult choice of his life.

Spoiler In fact, Gabriel discovers he is descended from an ancient German family of Schattenjägers - literally "shadow hunters", servants of the light fighting the forces of evil since the most remote times. The Ritter family went into a slow decline from the time when one of his ancestors, Gunther Ritter, fell in love with the African witch he was hunting and then betrayed her – in the process losing both his life and the family talisman. Gabriel's grandfather, Heinz Ritter, had tried to escape his duty by searching for refuge in America and changing his name to Henry Knight. And when Gabe’s last remaining relative, Wolfgang Ritter, sacrifices his life to regain the talisman, events will force Gabriel to take his role as the new Schattenjäger, stop the Voodoo cult and defeat Tetelo (the evil spirit into which the formerly betrayed African witch metamorphosed). However, this cannot be done without causing the death of Malia Gedde, Tetelo's direct descendant and Gabriel's unobtainable love...