When Paul Storey comes home from London he's escaping an event that ruined his professional life. Now he's slowly making contact with people again ... but the people he winds up meeting are lowlifes, thieves and conmen. Exactly the kind of people he was trying to escape. Worse, one of them is a con-woman who, for some reason, he can't get out of his mind and who has a habit of manipulating men ...When he gets involved in a scam to sell smuggled antiquities from Syria he realises he can't escape being a copper either-and one with a specialised skill that makes him even more desirable to his new colleagues. Finding a purpose in life while keeping his head connected to his shoulders keeps him busy, until a Syrian who wants the return of one of the stolen antiquities shows up ... and he's not inclined to take prisoners.