Frustrated over his failure to sell antiques in Betterton, a small town on the Chesapeake Bay, Mark Hopkins, a handsome, rich and bright 27-year old former SEAL, decides to become a private art dealer and buys a farm outside Rock Hall, near the Eastern Neck Island Wildlife Refuge. Two weeks later he discovers an important impressionist painting in an antiques store in Baltimore, which he buys for $10,000 and sells for $329,000. His joy, however is short-lived when his father dies unexpectedly, forcing him to take over operation of his family's steel mill in Baltimore. After the funeral, his death is ruled "by suspicious means." A subsequent murder resolves everything, with at least two gorgeous women always competing for his love. The characters are strong, with a storyline that reads like a movie script.