Richard Milhous "Nix" Miller, prodigal son of a California used-car dealer, is a small-time con man and a master at deluding himself and others. Posing as a Hollywood scriptwriter so that he can more easily pick the purses of the women he meets in Prague's cafes and nightclubs, he lives a fairly uneventful life until smitten by a cool, mysterious Danish beauty named Monika. Possibly a princess, possibly part Gypsy, Monika is clearly more than Nix's match as a con artist. After he eliminates her boorish lover, Nix joins her in an escalating series of cons that spin quickly and frighteningly out of control.
