Robbed of her jewels by her ex-husband, Hypatia (Pash) Chevender turns to her childhood friend Amelia Bingham. Amelia not only recovers the jewels by means of a dazzling piece of trickery, but proceeds to take Pash on a breathtaking series of adventures in which large sums of money are extracted from all manner of rich and unpleasant people by means of intricate sleight-of-hand and carefully calculated ploys. From the curious Girl Guides' Club in London to a matriarchal castle in the highlands of Scotland, Pash meets a world of daring, elegant ladies who dress like 1930s fashion-plates, quip like Dorothy Parker, dance like Ginger Rogers and rob the vulgar world about them with gay insouciance.