The twisting lanes of the Chiltern Hills are lonely at night. When Sophie Stein realises the car behind is deliberately following her, she is angry, then afraid -- the ordinary drunken yob doesn't carry a machete.

Desperately, she uses her local knowledge to evade her pursuer, just as the handsome, enigmatic Luke Despard intervenes. Grateful to him, Sophie is convinced it was a purely random attack. Why should anyone want to kill her?

Her business partner, Pru Bailey, urges caution. What do they know of Luke? A sequence of threatening events follows, and Sophie begins to suspect they are deliberate, not accidents. Yet the only people who could benefit from her death are Pru and her half-brothers and sisters. Sophie's father was rich, but she cannot believe any of them intend to harm her ... until there is a sudden death, which is probably murder.

She turns to Luke, outside the family. With him she'll be safe, hidden from whoever is persecuting her. And she almost dies. Now Sophie cannot trust anyone but herself. Alone she must face the dangers and thwart whoever wants her dead.