On a spring morning in 2008 Professor Lucien McCulloch is preparing to operate at a London Clinic. He is at the pinnacle of his career as an internationally renowned Gynaecologist, popular and successful. His patient is the wife of a vindictive Libyan politician who has threatened dire consequences if the operation does not go to plan. In Lucien McCulloch's hospital a new Chief Executive wants impossibly radical changes in the department that McCulloch heads. At home his wife is becoming more resentful of the demands of his professional life. This novel follows the taut chronology of the next six months as Lucien is pursued, excluded and rejected, then escapes to the French countryside during the fast paced tapestry of events in London, Tripoli and France that eventually lead to a resolution.