Martin Johnston's story begins as a government forest firefighter one Summer, but this turns out to be his least perilous mission. Eventually, Martin ends up as a gun-toting convoy manager in war-torn Afghanistan. After the war, he continues as a mercenary in South East Asia for a firm with shadowy links to the CIA. This is when he meets the company adjudicator, falls in love, marries for the 3rd time, gives up the days as a mercenary, and returns home. He soon becomes mortally ill, a legacy from the mysterious toxic smoke of war. His new wife nurses him back to health, forming an unbreakable bond and together hatch a plan to rescue his young daughter from a certain future of treachery and prostitution by a previous marriage to a notorious Thai mamasan that's taken all he has.