After seeing a young woman's tattoo with images from an unknown painting of rare and significant value, Fred knows the painting must be found. But anyone who must have seen the painting denies that it exists. Since Fred's employer, the collector Clayton Reed, is out of the country, Fred is left to his own devices and is free to follow the painting's trail, despite distractions presented by the intriguing librarian, Molly Riley. When Fred encounters the first bump in the road: a suspiciously convenient hit-and-run that kills a potential informant, he wonders if a painting can be worth a murder.