Tess Frant and Becky Vitali are of the generation that reckons it can have everything. High flyers in the high-octane world of London's high-finance, they move through the opportunists, the short-termists, the sharks, the bullies and the very, very rich to face many choices, not least the one presented by biology; children.

Tom Bracewell is an economist with one of London's leading investment banks. When his Estonian wife vanishes, leaving only a brief note, Tom gradually comes to realise he knows very little about the woman he married. In Tom's search for an explanation, all clues seem to lead to the Leopard Fund, one of the world's most powerful financial predators, headed by the charismatic Jean-Pierre Telmont. Somehow, Tom's wife, Tatyana, and Telmont are linked.

Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, this is the story of Charles Strickland, a London stockbroker who suddenly abandons his wife and family to become a painter.