Art historian Nicholas Ochterlonie is the very model of a modern English
gentleman, with a perfectly ordered life. But when his wife inexplicably
demands a divorce, he finds himself diving into uncertainty like a
junkie with a new drug. Soon he is risking his professional reputation,
breaking the law, and embarking on a delirious affair with the
mysterious Julian, beautiful and badly damaged by her past with a
Russian gangster. Protecting Julian from the Mafya and challenging his
colleagues' pet convictions give Nicholas an intoxicating new sense of
himself. Of course, all addicts believe they're in control'until they
aren't any more.