A piece of art, lost for centuries, turns up but is subsequently stolen. Was it real, or was it a fake? Art assessor, widower Sam Price, goes in search of the truth. Take a journey with this very item, from distant past towards the present, travelling across continents and seas. Walk in the shoes of Viana Vanetti, the first owner of the item, sail the seas with Pietro, master of a three masted galleon. Meet a tin miner from Cornwall, a Peruvian youngster, a doctor and the daughter of a wealthy New Yorker. While Sam researches it's provenance, the story jumps from the present to the past to follow the lives it has touched and he encounters four different women. Will one of these become his new love? And what secrets do his great-grandfather's journals contain which may help find the missing artwork and solve the crimes?