Curator Madame Françoise René de Cotret travels to Japan to procure loans of Buddhist sculptures for a forthcoming exhibition to be held at the Cernushi Museum in Paris. She is reunited with her Japanese friend Itsue and learns about her troubled romance with a Korean national, Françoise in turn becomes attracted to a Buddhist monk. Later as the two women travel around the Kansai area they are caught by leaders of a criminal syndicate when they discover stolen statues waiting to be exported. Along with an appendix of factual information about temples in the Kansai area, a co-production of forty years experience in Japan, authors Abbott and Léveillé weave together a tale of suspense and romantic intrigue with actual historical and geographical locations.