Harvey Metcalfe, a Polish immigrant to the United States, rises from messenger boy to corporate magnate, combining business skills with little loyalty and much ruthlessness.

Metcalfe's agents hire David Kesler, a Harvard MBA who talks up the company to the four protagonists: Stephen Bradley, an American professor at the University of Oxford; Dr Robin Oakley, a Harley Street doctor; Jean-Pierre Lamanns, a French art dealer with a gallery in London; and James Brigsley, heir to an earldom.

Bradley learns of Metcalfe's responsibility; discovering that there is no legal recourse, he organizes the four to steal the money back, using Harvey's interests and weaknesses.

When Harvey heads to Monte Carlo on vacation, a pill in his drink at the Casino causes severe abdominal pain which is made to look like a gallstone, and Robin operates, though barely breaking the skin, and collects a large bill.

A text adventure game adaption based on the book was developed and published by Domark, and released in 1987 for the Amstrad CPC, Atari XL, BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers.