It's 1989 and Sophie Arlington's life is about to change for good. She's just met aspiring musician Johnny Jones over a hand of poker, and she's so drawn to his high cheekbones that she ends up inviting him into her bed. Also at the same poker table are Mark Arnold, Sophie's old friend and flatmate, and the predatory but charming Henri le Cerf, a French-Swiss soon-to-be private banker.

The four friends meet over the next few years in London, Rye, Paris and Lausanne to play poker, to do business, and to make love. But their lives become more entwined than any of them could have imagined, as the bluff of the poker table is overshadowed by the deceit at the heart of their relationships.