Widowed Sam Price inherited the journals of his great-grandfather, and his great-grandfather's love of art. On a visit to a Parisian auction house, Sam sees a painting his great-grandfather once owned and questions its authenticity. This leads to the auction house offering him a job valuing artworks and establishing their provenance.

When "the Item" is stolen, Sam helps to find it, but is it actually a forgery? While Sam researches its provenance, the story jumps from present to past to follow the lives it has touched.

In the course of his research Sam comes into contact with four different women. Will one these become his new love? And what secrets do his great-grandfather's journals contain which may help to find the missing artworks and solve the crimes?