It is 1977 and the Cold War is at its peak. On an overland trip that will take her behind the Iron Curtain, Lily Maddison finds her sexuality conflicted, undermined by her kinky new best friend, Aysha. Under Aysha's tutelage, Lily comes to understand the unconventional, private world of bondage and discipline. Trapped in a blackmail sting in London's fashionable Hampstead, the submissive Lily's emotional loyalties are torn between Aysha and Lily's new employer, Aurelius Cole ??" both Dominants in her life. In the dungeon beneath his house, Lily is caught up in a murder and the clash of ideologies that will lead British Intelligence to a climax affecting both the naive Lily and the whole unstable Middle East.