Sexy and savvy Iris Thorne has made it to the big corner office of the glittering yet cutthroat Los Angeles investment firm, McKinney Alitzer. She’s looking ahead to a bright future with new boyfriend Garland Hughes when the past comes calling. Iris’s ex-fiancé Todd Fillinger surfaces after many years and invites Iris to participate in a lucrative new venture in the wild and woolly emerging Russian market–red-hot yet dangerous in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Iris is intrigued, not least because she has some personal business still to settle with Todd. But only hours after she’s been met by Todd in Moscow, he’s gunned down in front of her.

Horrified, Iris manages to return at least physically unscathed to the comforting familiarity of her L.A. beachfront bungalow and Garland’s arms. She’s brought with her Todd’s ashes which she’s agreed to deliver to his devastated sister. Only then does she learn that L.A. can be even more terrifying than Moscow and that the guilt-laden legacy of Todd Fillinger could destroy her.