Hermes Pimm receives a call from MI6 Chief Arthur Blake requesting a liaison. As usual, Pimm invites him to lunch at White's Club.

Once they are seated, Blake reveals that the wife of a wealthy Turk has sought sanctuary from her abusive husband. Given her Belgium nationality, he has arranged accommodations for her with the Belgium Embassy. Blake requests that Pimm call on her there and hopefully ease her concerns.

Intrigued by the possibilities, Pimm accepts the job. The woman's name is Krista Nadir and she is a beauty despite having been abused by her husband when she caught him in the arms of a concubine.

As a consequence she has fled Istanbul and sought cosmetic surgery in London. Pimm is amazed at how well she looks, her natural beauty is unmarred, leaving him deeply effected by her charm. He quickly falls in love with her.

Pimm undertakes to meet with her estranged husband and negotiate divorce requirements.

The novel's protagonist Alex Lautrec is a former NYPD Lieutenant currently running his own successful P.I. Agency. Out of the blue he receives a call from his former wife, now residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She reveals that her current husband, a renowned artist and sculptor has been killed in a bizarre foundry mishap. Though declared an accident, she believes his death was intentionally staged by the foundry's owner, a larger-than-life entrepreneur named Victor Savage and pleads with her ex to fly out to Santa Fe and investigate.