The secrets of Suzanne Rannoch's scandalous past have forced Suzanne and her husband Malcolm- also a spy - to flee London's intrigues and ballrooms. Suzanne fears they will go mad from boredom in their gilded refuge on Lake Como. But before they even reach the villa, they are attacked by bandits who think the Rannoch's possess a mysterious treasure. Are their past deeds catching up with them or were they mistaken for someone else? As they settle in at the lake, they encounter Italian revolutionaries, gun smugglers, an English nobleman living in self-imposed exile with a beautiful contessa, and Lord Byron and Percy and Mary Shelley, who have their own reasons for fleeing Britain. The exquisite beauty of the villas and gardens holds layers of deceit, tied to the very enemies the Rannoch's sought to escape. When a golden afternoon on the lake turns crimson with murder, Malcolm and Suzanne realize that boredom is the least of their concerns?but they may have to fear for their lives and the lives of those closest to them...