Set in 1992, it starts with murder in Manhattan. Before long, Nellie Mackenzie and Taylor Jackson find themselves at opposite ends of the Karakoram Highway. Nellie is headed north through tribal Pakistan, where vengeance killings are a way of life. Jackson is headed south along the desert routes of western China, where smuggling national treasures is a capital offense. Nellie and Jackson are antiquities dealers. They were once husband and wife. Now the unsolved murder lies between them. Their companions are murderers, lovers, and a treasure trove of Tang Dynasty statuary. Everyone on this modern Silk Road is seeking justice for betrayals they've suffered. No one knows where their sense of honor will take them. Death lurks at every turn.