Augustus Talbot has a plan as normal, but this time is different, this is the big one and he needs his family around him, he wants to show them off to the Chinese.

Dexter and Elizabeth think that they are free on the high seas, but not so, trapped by the plans of the Sultan of Brunei, who is an old friend of Dexter, but whose plan is it really, Dexter has his suspicions and knows that the old man is pulling the strings again.

The Western world leaders in London and Washington look on in horror, for what he is he selling, but then they realize that he's not selling, he's giving away anything the Chinese want, all secrets are free as he gives away Theodore Smirnoffs star protection technology, or as he calls it, the line in the sand, for all to see.

London and Washington are on tenterhooks waiting for the big decision. And as always, how the hell did he do that?