Spirited Aimee Leduc, a private investigator based in Paris, has been introduced to the Cao Dai temple by her partner, Rene, who urges her to learn to meditate as a counterbalance to her frenetic lifestyle. A Vietnamese nun asks her for a favor-to hand over a check and bring a package back to the temple. But this act of kindness ends in a stranger's death and leaves her with a bullet wound in the arm, a check for 50,000 francs and a trove of ancient jade artifacts whose provenance is a mystery.

The French secret service, a group of veterans of the war in Indochina, some wealthy ex-colonials, and contending international oil companies all claim the jade. They will stop at nothing to gain possession of it. And the nun has disappeared.

Aimee has promised to avoid danger, but it continues to seek her out.