Stefanie and Henry are Americans living in Prague; she works for the State Department, he is a rare books dealer. They live the life of a comfortably married couple – morning coffee at the same café every day, social events with the same small group of friends, a little too much to drink in the evenings and a single episode of Poirot every night before bed. Until one day their world is turned upside down by the arrival from the States of Stefanie’s old friend, Selma Al-Khateeb whose husband has been mysteriously arrested and indefinitely imprisoned. At first it appears that Selma has come to escape her problems but soon her reasons for coming to Prague seem more sinister and murky and Stefanie and Henry’s placid existence is turned upside down in ways they couldn’t have imagined.