Alexi Rostov is an attractive 60 year old woman hired to eliminate former assassins who are 'losing it' to senility and creating problems for several governments. She works under a lucrative contract for her former employer, 'taking out' the old men with her specially configured knitting needles. After a job she completes on a ferry boat to Mackinac Island, she is sent to Rome, Italy to kill Stefan Cardini, but discovers there are two men who fit that description. In a fast-moving series of events involving gypsies, mimes, Red Hat ladies, an unwanted order to work with a team, and her own responses to the men themselves, she must make difficult decisions. Alexi questions herself and the underlying purpose of her actions.