A political storm erupts when Claire Deveraux, a deaf employee of the U.S. Embassy in France, is abducted at a conference in Rome. The kidnapper, Franco Lazzari, is a wealthy pharmacist who has been scouring Italy for the perfect wife. Unable to hear, and with time against her, Claire must use all of her wits to escape Lazzari's remote home in the Italian countryside. Yet neither Claire nor the police know the actual danger she is in. Lazzari is in league with a senior official at the U.S. embassy-a man who is willing to leverage all of his clout to stop Claire being found.