One Mr Saffarian offers a substantial cash retainer to P.I. Jacob Asch to keep an eye on his beautiful daughter. What Asch doesn't realise is that the girl is part of a world class smuggling operation plotting to bring an ancient treasure into the U.S. Asch is quickly and mysteriously bounced from the case but one of his associates refuses to let things drop - and shortly drops out of sight himself.

Asch's search for his co-detective turns up a complex network of underground smuggling connections, leading from a small time fraud artist to the austere gates of the L.A. County Museum and on to the Bel Air doorstep of an art collecting billionaire. At stake is an assortment of golden artefacts of a pre-Hittite culture and the gleam leads Asch to an oil drilling platform beyond the 12 mile limit, a terrifying midnight rendezvous and last minute revelations of greed and mendacity.