At the urgent plea of a friend, SIS Deputy Chief Tweed visits Bella Main, formidable matriarch of the Main Chance, the most powerful private bank in Europe She tells him that she has refused an enormous offer from the villainous Calouste Doubenkian Within days she is dead, and Tweed and Paula Grey return to investigate an atrocious murder At Hengistbury HQ, based in a huge Elizabethan manor hidden in The Forest, Tweed is reacquainted with the two families that have run the bank for generations and detects hatred between the two families, unearthing deceit and dangerous secrets as he mingles with these strange characters