THE book starts off with Marie Mitchell, a former FBI agent, confronting an intruder in her house. In the ensuing struggle, Marie ends up with a bruised cheek, and the stranger with a bullet in his head.

The story also goes back and forth in time, alternating between Marie's upbringing in New York in the 1960s, her career as an FBI agent in the late 80s, and her retreat to Martinique in 1992.