She survived Serbian gangsters in Portugal, but now Miranda Ellison finds herself embroiled in a new adventure in the Czech Republic. Dark-haired English twenty seven year old Miranda meets blonde, blue-eyed Eliska, who has just lost her mother. The two hit it off immediately and, assisted by humour, wine and strong Czech beer, soon tell each other their lives. Eliska's mother had led a tragic life, with her German parents being deported from Czechoslovakia at the end of the War and then finding herself in prison, after the Russian invasion of 1968. With Miranda's help, Eliska starts to trace the secrets her mother left behind - secrets which threaten others. Miranda becomes involved in a raucous hen night and some complex detective work, before her Black French boyfriend Didier re-joins her from a photographic job in Africa. Together with Eliska and friends, they just manage to stay one step ahead of their opponents until Eliska is kidnapped. The background of rape, murder, pornographic films and violent sexual tastes of some of those involved turn the simple investigation into something much more sinister.