A suicide note sets off a chain of crises for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington, and Lady Virginia. Giles faces an impossible choice: abandon his political career to rescue Karin from behind the Iron Curtain, or accept that she may be using him as a spy. Meanwhile, Lady Virginia's financial troubles seem insurmountable until she encounters Cyrus T. Grant III, a wealthy businessman from Baton Rouge who may hold the key to her salvation.