This is Ingrid Betancourt's memoir of her struggle against international criminals and her open confrontation of a government infested with liars and the Mafia.

Ingrid Betancourt grew up among artists and diplomats in elegant surroundings in Paris. Her father served as Colombia's ambassador to UNESCO and her mother, a political activist, has fought on behalf of Colombia's children for years. Ingrid was happily married to a French diplomat, with two young children, when she decided to return to Colombia to fight against the corruption ruining her country. She has been elected and re-elected as a representative and a senator with the highest majority in the country. Her life and her family have been threatened on numerous occasions, forcing her to send her children to live with their father in New Zealand. Now running for president, she was kidnapped by members of FARC in February 2002 and has not been seen since.

Sydney Otterton is penniless, his wicked mother having appropriated all of the family funds with the exception of the house which was entailed. He has just returned from the war where he fought bravely and was taken prisoner at the Normandy landings. He manages to persuade his wife, Priscilla, to move into the crumbling house with their young children and faithful servant, Annie. The novel evolves through the eyes of four characters who narrate the events of what turns out to be a murder mystery, in a variety of formats (journal, letters, research). The first is the sympathetic Syndey, beset with financial worries. The sharply observant and pragmatic Annie was born and brought up on the estate and runs the house. Mr Rakowski is a frequent visitor to the house, a comic character, researching a history of the family who has developed a passion for Priscilla. The final narrator is the appealing young daughter of the house, Georgina.