Caroline Daley is trying to escape from a nightmare divorce after witnessing her husband making love to another woman in her bed. Nobody, including her parents, seem willing to take her side.
Taking a ferry down the Adriatic, she finds herself marooned in Dubrovnik, through no fault of her own. It is 1991, and the vicious Yugoslav Civil War has broken out, and the old city is under siege from the Serb-led JNA. It is a World Heritage Site and is part of Croatia, which is fighting for independence. But in the City there are also Serbians and Montenegrins, being part of the mix of races and religions which made up Yugoslavia.
Ralph Henderson says he is a journalist who has been given the job by Dubrovnik´s self-elected governor of looking after the tourists who are trapped in the city. But can anybody be trusted in this hotbed of spies and foreign agents? And what is his connection to the beautiful American whom he seems so fond of?
Tensions rise even further, when Caroline finds herself isolated with this man whom she hates. The two of them are pursued by the enemy, even having to swim in the sea to try to escape from a fire which has been started behind them. The terrible thing is that she finds herself falling in love with the arrogant journalist, and that plunges her deeper into the maelstrom of local intrigues.
As a consequence, she is entrusted with a secret device which she must hide to make sure it doesn´t fall into the hands of the Serbs. This might result in the civil war becoming Europe-wide and maybe even world-wide.
Then the JNA opens fire on the beautiful World Heritage Site. What will happen to the trapped tourists and to the love affair that Caroline and Ralph share?