Emory Bartlett, a billionaire's daughter hires a young Chicago engineer, Chris Birk, to act as her consultant on a short term acquisition venture in Europe. Little did they know that the venture was fraught with life threatening danger. It takes all the young engineer's talent, capabilities - and luck - to keep his client out of danger and to bring the venture to a successful conclusion. Back in Chicago, Emory's billionaire father passes away, leaving her to run the large conglomerate he created. She hires Chris as her personal advisor on the recommendation of her deceased father, and she also enters into a romantic relationship with the young engineer. Chris has the rare capability to retain everything he reads, and he employs this talent to its full measure helping Emory to run the business. They go on vacation to Italy, where they face unexpected and unwelcome adventures. Again Chris employs his talents to rescue his lover and boss, and they return to Chicago closer than ever. Chris is clearly on a fast track in the corporation, but he slowly realizes big business is not for him. He hangs on as he cannot bear the thought of losing his fair employer. They seek another business venture in Singapore, where they face horrors worse than death. They manage to escape, but only after they have eliminated five of their captors. Chris has no problems with this, but Emory retains emotional problems from the ordeal. They drift apart, and Chris moves back to his original homeland, Norway, where he establishes a very successful consulting business specializing in strategic planning. Chris cannot delete the memories of Emory from his mind, and undertakes some discrete checking of her whereabouts. He finds she is in deep trouble, drops everything he has in Norway, and returns to Chicago. Employing some highly unorthodox tactics, he manages to locate her, and they realize they are still deeply in love. However they share something that has been taken away, and Chris travels to Singapore on his own in a desperate attempt to sort things out. He meets with one adventure after the other, each capable of ending his young life. Prevailing in the end, he reclaims what Emory and he had lost.
