[3] Despite having put the project of building the palace for the king of the Atrebates, Togidubnus, back on track, there is no peace for Falco and his family (his wife, his children, his brothers in law and his sister Maia Favonia) in Londinium as Togidubnus' disgraced friend, Verovolcus (see A Body in the Bath House), is found drowned in the well of a seedy Londinium taverna[1] named the Shower of Gold, stripped of his torque.

Things become more tense with Togidubnus breathing down Falco and Hilarius' necks for answers on who killed Verovolcus, and a newly arrived businessman, Norbanus Murena, hitting on Maia.

Enquiries, however, begin to pay off and soon enough, with Chloris' help Falco manages to identify the rackets' enforcers in town, nicknamed Pyro and Splice.

Falco and his associates soon notice something else — many of the businesses in town all have names derived from myths surrounding Jupiter, the chief god of the Roman pantheon.

Petro contacts Falco and reveals he is on an undercover mission for the vigiles in Rome, tracking whoever is behind the Londinium rackets, and happened to witness the baker's murder (but unfortunately can't identify the perpetrators).

Pyro is poisoned and Splice manages to escape from custody before any of them can be interrogated by the chief torturer, ironically named Amicus (Latin: 'friend').

Meanwhile, king Togidubnus has managed to detain one of the employees of the Shower of Gold, a Briton named Flavia Fronta, who reveals the head of the rackets in Londinium and it's none other than Florius, the son of the late gangster Balbinus Pius (see Time to Depart).

A chance meeting with Popilius soon reveals that Norbanus, the businessman courting Falco's sister Maia, is also head of the Jupiter Company.