When the letter first arrived at the offices of Rome's Art Theft Squad, General Bottando thought it was just another deranged demand from a demented fan. But the mysterious correspondent is a woman who claims to know something about a painting that was stolen over thirty years ago - and Bottando believes the theft was just one in a series of clever heists masterminded by an elusive thief he's dubbed "Giotto." Anxious to outwit the conniving colleague who's plotting his professional destruction, Bottando sends the beautiful Flavia di Stefano to investigate. Flavia quickly uncovers a possible culprit - but when her art-dealer boyfriend Jonathan Argyll travels to England to question him, the suspect is very suspiciously dead.