A woman moves into one of two cottages hidden in a Hertfordshire wood. When she meets her neighbour she realises that their paths crossed once before. She is a professional assassin - he is a retired detective, witness to a killing she carried out in London. He does not recognise her and as the months pass they form a relationship while she carries out her last assignments but retirement is not as easy as she imagines and forces beyond her control conspire to eliminate her. As she fulfils her assignments she trails behind her an exquisite scent, her perfume, one of the most expensive in the world - Les Eaux de Karnak.