This story introduces the enigmatic secret agent Harry Blackpool, as he follows an errant ballerina and her artist lover on an odyssey across Europe and the New World in the wake of a scandalous painting. Set during the Napoleonic era, the story features a wild cast of characters, some of whom will appear in the follow-up novels. The action takes place in Barbados, London, Prague, Paris, Scotland, Strasbourg and Venice. Here also begins the tale of Captain Blackpool's early days in India. The novel concludes after a great masked ball at a palace outside Paris, where a letter changes hands in a comedy of intrigue and errors.