Peter Nugent, manager of a theatre company in Wellington and former actor, has just been diagnosed with cancer when he receives devastating news that his beloved 17 year-old granddaughter, Melanie, has committed suicide. The tragedy saps his will to go on living. He learns from Robin Blackwell, hospital employee and pro-lifer, that Melanie had an abortion just before she died. Blackwell incites Peter to action against his granddaughter's boyfriend then against the doctor Blackwell identifies as the abortionist. But not everything is as it seems. Peter struggles first with his conscience then...

Will New Zealand teacher, Ryan Gibson, get to claim his Lotto win? Or will Kristen Piper, his girlfriend, collect the prize for herself as a way out of the double-life she's been living for five years? With the best of intentions, Ryan follows her across the globe, and eventually to the island of Sicily, cradle of Mediterranean culture. But someone else is also out to find her, and they will stop at nothing.