On a six-week trek across Europe before starting a new job, American citizen Norman Lake has a seemingly chance encounter in Sardinia with a stunning French woman in a nightclub. Francoise D'Arcy is accompanied by Christian Janzig, a mysterious man from Eastern Europe. Lake is intrigued by Francoise who is traveling with her father, Emil D'Arcy, and Janzig, on a yacht. But Lake is not the only one who is intrigued. He is contacted by John Perkins, with whom Lake had shared an earlier cab ride. Perkins claimed to be a travel agent, but he really works for a U.S. intelligence agency. Perkins asks Lake to become close to the D'Arcys to try to discover what the old man is hiding. Francoise encourages Lake to follow her and her father as their luxury yacht cruises first to Italy and then eastward toward Athens. Lake finds himself embroiled in an increasingly complex international plot that has its roots in a horrifying death near Athens and a brutal ambush in Vietnam. Lake faces deadly peril as he follows D'Arcy to Rome and Athens where the paths of many lead to a violent and terrifying chain of events atop the Acropolis.