Certain that his reputation would improve dramatically after his death, the painter John Lafcadio left several paintings with his agent, along with the instruction that the widowed Mme. Lafcadio should wait a suitable interval and then begin doling out the work to a newly ravenous public. Albert Campion, an old friend of the widow's, is among the guests at Lafcadio's fourth posthumous vernissage. The event is a success for all but one of the attendees-a young artist who is brutally murdered while others are sipping champagne. Shortly thereafter the wife of another painter in the Lafcadios' circle is poisoned, and Campion begins asking questions.