Bronson Tullis is a highly successful London art dealer, specialising in the semi-clandestine world of antiquities. His life seems to be on a roll until he is persuaded to buy a Roman statue found lying on the Italian seabed. This unleashes a terrifying chain of events and, as his world falls apart, he is plunged into a breakdown.

The action moves between London, Italy and finally a remote Greek island, where he is forced to face the superficiality and egoism of his old way of life as he struggles to come to terms with his own dark places.