Set in 1988, the story begins when Sam Goren, a sociopath New York diamond dealer successfully fakes his own violent death so he can disappear to the chateau of his friend Baron Edmond DeViamont, near Amsterdam. DeViamont deals in blood diamonds, but Interpol has never been able to prove it or stop him.

Sam's daughter Danielle does not mourn the loss of her father since their relationship had been terrible. She had to become a gun expert to defend herself from Sam's violent rages. She also doesn't think Sam is actually dead, but no one believes her. Danielle's tabloid reputation as a glamorous diamond heiress has made her reclusive and humorously cynical. Sam's will surprises everyone but Danielle by leaving Sam's business not to Danielle but to Rafi Cardinelle, an Israeli protégé of Sam who is a long-time rival of Danielle.

Secretly, Rafi is also a Mossad agent but not on active duty. The diamond industry is collapsing, plagued by the robbery and murder of couriers of uncut stones from the main supplier, VanGroot's in South Africa. The debacle is affecting London, New York, Tel Aviv, and the Netherlands, so Interpol asks MI5 and the Mossad to partner to solve a systematic crime costing many lives and billions of dollars. Danielle is drawn into the investigation after being tricked into flying to Tel Aviv by Rafi, where she is recruited into helping the Mossad. With Danielle's help, the MI5 and Mossad teams are able to find that DeViamont is involved but not the mastermind of the operation.

The story has multiple plot twists and surprises, escalating towards the end.