Alison Russell's holiday is rudely shattered by gunfire when Basque separatists try to smuggle arms into the quiet fishing village in which she is staying.

Accompanied only by Miss Daventry, a tough old English eccentric who fought in the Spanish Civil war, Alison reluctantly goes to the aid of Jose and Luis Villada.

It is a mission of mercy that turns into a nightmare.

Miss Daventry and Luis disappear and Jose and Alison are hunted not only by the police but by the psychopathic killer, Angel Garmendia.

They flee on horseback across the Pyrenees and into France, only to find that friend has turned into foe and the treachery of the war years stretches long fingers into the present.

Terrified for the safety of her elderly friend, heartbroken at the death of the man she has come to love, Alison waits alone in the deserted village of Cotanes as the hunters close in.