One glorious summer on the banks of the Loire, James Barton fell irrevocably in love with Catherine D'Aumant. But their love affair was not to last. The Duke D'Aumant did not consider an American idealist a suitable match for his daughter.

Nineteen years later, despite a reasonably happy marriage and a successfully career with the FBI, memories of Catherine and their all-consuming passion continue to plague James and he is haunted by a desire to return to France.

Then James is summoned to France to help solve a series of the most bizarre murders in national history. There he encounters Paul D-Aumant - Catherine's manipulative brother and the current duke - and is disturbed by a beguiling young girl whose sensual behaviour arouses sexual desires beyond his control. James also discovers that Catherine is no longer the woman he remembers...

Struggling to come to terms with this, James tracks a heinous killer and pieces together the events of the last nineteen years to reveal an intricate pattern of forbidden passion, sexual obsession and revenge.