Caroline Steele decides to leave her calm, respectable life as a wife and mother to get another job at the University of New Mexico. She is hired as the museum shop manager at the University Art Museum. When the body of a former Art Department professor is found in the lower gallery handicapped lift, she is thrown once again in contact with the charismatic Inspector James Hutchinson. Sparks fly between them as they work together to solve this mystery. She encounters the greed of the art world and the tangled web of artistic relationships. She discovers that valuable works of art are not what they appear to be.

Difficult staff, colorful museum visitors, a fascinating homeless man, and a friend's gothic novel are woven throughout. Caro attempts to juggle life with her husband and lively sons with her newest adventure and her increasing closeness to James. Her final discovery sets events in motion that threaten her life.