When young artist Sela Lamont flies to Scotland to investigate her dead grandfather's hidden past, she gets more than she bargained for. Not only does her great-grandmother slip her a letter that places him smack in the middle of a WWII highland espionage plot, but Sela discovers a related present-day scheme threatening to take the country captive.

With a penchant for digging up facts but lacking the slippery savvy of a sleuth, she blunders her way around the highland town of Ullapool, kicking up a flurry on both sides of the law. Between the sophisticated advances of an adopted relative and the quick wit and charm of a scruffy admirer, she attempts to ferret out the truth and finds herself teetering on the edge of a precarious cliff, wondering if anyone, including her grandfather, is who he claims to be.