A phone call from the French millionaire Bidot brings Patrick Dawlish and his wife to Brighton on a brilliant summer day, but they don't leave together. Felicity is kidnapped while swimming, plucked from the sea under Dawlish's nose.

A frantic Dawlish has few leads to go on. Back in London, he learns that Bidot's wife is also missing. With he and the Frenchman in the same boat, Dawlish finds that Felicity is collateral damage in a nefarious plot to take away everything that Bidot holds dear--his love, his fortune, and his reputation. But now that Dawlish is in the mix, he's ready to mitigate that damage by any means necessary.