NYPD detective Max Maguire flies to France to attend her friend Chloé Marceau's wedding in the Valley of the Marne in Champagne, an hour and a half east of Paris. She meets the older and urbane Olivier Chaumont, an examining magistrate, and experiences a fairy tale evening. But when Chloé's beautiful and successful aunt Léa de Saint-Pern, is found murdered after the wedding dinner, Max and Olivier are shocked back into their professional roles. But to Max's chagrin, Olivier is put in charge of the investigation.

Olivier learns that several people were attempting to gain control of Léa's business at the time of her death. Quietly using the skills inherited from her detective dad, Max insinuates herself into the victim's family until their long-held secrets begin to spill out like marbles from an overturned dish....