Jessica Shaw is an Alaskan doctor with great compassion and medical ethics, but a talent for trouble on a similar scale. She stumbles across a multi-million dollar deal that is compromising the health of those on Tanarak island, and it takes all of Chance's experience and customary good fortune to extricate her in one piece. Since he originally ranks roughly evenly in her estimation with the pursuing killers, it takes time for the doctor to come to trust her new bodyguard.