Angie’s Amalfi's boyfriend, San Francisco Homicide Inspector Paavo Smith, has never known anything about his parents, or even the name he was born with. He was raised by an elderly Finnish man who gave him the name Paavo, but the "Smith" is a mystery to him. Needless to say, Angie has always been most curious, but careful not to pry into something so emotionally charged—and potentially devastating.

When someone ransacks Angie’s apartment, then Paavo’s, then that of his "step-father" Aulis Kokkonen, Paavo and Angie find themselves forced to unlock the secrets of his past in order to secure their future—or any future at all. There are deadly forces at work to stop them, but once their roller-coaster ride to danger begins, they have no choice but to buckle their seat belts and hang on to the surprising conclusion.