Ned Alexander, a reporter at large for an American newspaper, has alighted in Paris after pursuing a long, dangerous, emotional story in India and Nepal. All he wants is some relaxation and recharging, but interesting-and often deadly-occurrences have a way of finding him.

Before he's even had time to sleep, Ned is plunged into a unique drama of international intrigue. Human body parts have found their way into horsemeat entrees served by one of the city's finest restaurants, a prominent American politician has gone missing, and Ned has found allies in his assistant back at his paper, a beautiful doctor and the most precocious nine-year-old girl anyone is likely to meet.

In this story spanning newsrooms in Arizona and Montana, hotels and restaurants, and underground clubs in France, slaughterhouse backrooms in Canada and wild mustang ranges of the high plains, Ned tugs at loose ends, trying to discover where they lead. Amid the surprising turns, profound truths are revealed about where common good and craven self-interests converge and depart, the malignant forces that hide in plain sight, and the renewal of love.