An extremely rare bottle of wine (bottled during the appearance of the Great Comet of 1811) is discovered. Margaret Harwood is sent to retrieve it so it can be sold at auction. Oliver Plexico is assigned as her travel guide/bodyguard for the trip. However, other people desperately want the bottle and will stop at nothing to get it. A simple little trip becomes an international chase.

Nicholas celebrates his 40th birthday in his country house, with some friends. He has everything he ever wished for, but, on that night, he will end up dead, on his swimming pool. From that moment on, a dead Nicholas wonders how his life would be if he had made a different choice, ten years ago. We then follow two stories: on one hand the police, trying to solve the mystery of Nicholas' death and on the other, Nicholas himself, living a different life. A second life.