In Massachussetts, Jacqueline Castineau Gaines gets the shock of her life when a young Englishman, a stranger, arrives at her door ... Marc's son ... whose birth and existence she had never been told about ... her joy is uncontainable ... until she realises that he has not searched and found her just to play the happy role of her grandson. In New York, Phil finds Jimmy Overman, his father's best friend, a Vietnam veteran so maimed by the war, and so struck by Phil's physical likeness to Marc, he believes his friend has come back to him, alive. In Stockholom, Phil finds Rena Olsson, a young nurse, and the beautiful girl of his dreams, who is living with a painful secret. But back in London, there is one other person Phil is determined to find, and destroy, and like his grandmother Jacqueline Castineau, Phil is ruthless in his quest.