Richard and Robin Mariner are aboard Tai Fun, preparing to join their friends at the opening ceremony of the luxury Volcano Roads hotel on the Indonesian island of Pulau Baya, when they spot two bodies floating in the still Java Sea.
The victims are marine police, and while one of them is beyond help, the other is clinging to life. As they rush the dying woman to shore, it seems that the eyes of the entire world are on the island, the hotel and the dazzling ceremony.
But, even allowing for the mysterious patient, Richard and Robin soon discover that all is not as it should be. There are fortunes to be made on this rejuvenated island and everyone – from the clearly legitimate to the ruthlessly criminal – wants a slice of the action…