Griffin's been hired to steal a key in a museum exhibit and replace it with a lookalike key. As he grabs the key Griffin fears he has set off the museum alarm, but all he hears is that sweet, sweet sound of silence. A man dressed entirely in white arrives and takes the key. Griffin can't let this go. He learns the key is to the dungeon of an Italian castle, but the dungeon is empty. Who is this man and why does he want that key?

Helping Griffin are Kit Covington, his best friend since kindergarten and a top ten lister of everything; Bobby Lowell, aspiring actor with the skill for uncovering information through his roles; and Annie Knaack, Griffin's girlfriend, calm where he is impatient, sweet when he is sarcastic. Griffin is brilliant but undisciplined; restraint is not in his skill set. He's persistent and above all loyal to his friends.

Griffin discovers that a former member of the Nazi's Special Task Force for Music covered one wall in a house in Baltimore with a musical score. The notes are a clue, Griffin realizes, to what the man in white is after. A trap is set, with Griffin as the bait.