Eager to experience more of his Italian mother's culture, Rick Montoya heads to Rome to start his own translation business. When he gets there, his uncle Commissario Piero Fontana pulls him into an investigation: the murder of Count Umberto Zimbardi, found dead on a bridge over the Tiber. In this prequel to the series that began with Cold Tuscan Stone, Rick is undermined by his rookie mistakes, but also distracted by a woman pressing him into service as an Italy tour guide, and the arrival of a college friend on a mission to sell Argentine wine to the Vatican. But there's a dangerous countdown underway, and Rick needs to solve the case before the unthinkable happens.