Vega Stern, art historian and mother, tries to live her dream as a writer in the countryside of France. After finding a pink shoe at the Spring of Tears of the medieval monastery on Mont Saint Odile in the Alsace, Vega Stern becomes entangled in the murder case of a young woman, identified as Sarah Parker. She gets more and more deeply drawn into the dark and mysterious past of the victim, which was marred by disturbing childhood memories, paranoia, restlessness, art theft during the Nazi era, and drug abuse. The quest to solve the mystery leads to New York, Strasbourg, Germany, and India, where works of art provide clues to finding the killer.