Barry Halpern, a hard-working, successful New Jersey surgeon, is finally starting to see clearly about everything in his life. After twenty-three years of living with his narcissistic wife's indiscretions, he decides he can no longer tolerate her obsessive behavior. As he reenters bachelorhood, Barry refuses to be socially stagnant--a choice eventually leads him in a completely new direction. After a lengthy, self-imposed hiatus from committed relationships, Barry travels to France, where he suddenly falls in love with Monique Girard, a beautiful art conservator and the widow of a French government agent mysteriously killed a year earlier. For a time, he shuttles between New Jersey and France and attempts to convince Monique and her teenage daughter to emigrate to America. and then Monique suddenly disappears one day, leaving Barry with no answers or idea of what has happened. Driven by fear of losing his last chance at true love, Barry returns to Paris and partners with a French agent to find her, unaware of what they are about to uncover. As an American doctor on a dangerous chase to locate his French lover is unwittingly led straight into the clutches of an international mob, he soon discovers he can count on only one person: himself.