A Scottish medical research firm specializing in vaccines and treatments for deadly viruses is robbed, kicking off the action in this Christmastime thriller written by internationally bestselling Ken Follett. Kit Oxenford, son of the firm's director, is desperate to pay off his illegal gambling debts and anxious to revenge himself on the father who fired him for embezzlement. So he helps thieves circumvent the company's elaborate security system, believing that they intend to steal an experimental drug and sell it to a rival pharmaceutical company. Unfortunately, their scheme is considerably more sinister than that, and when the heist doesn't go exactly as planned, it leads to a devastating confrontation at the snowed-in Oxenford family estate.