This final work by the late Patricia Highsmith, author of the critically acclaimed Ripley thrillers, concerns the tangled, tortured loves and hates of the customers at Jakob's, a Zurich bar known for its mixed gay, straight, and bisexual clientele. One of the bar's habitues, Ricky, is mourning the death of his lover Petey, murdered six months before. But he has also developed an attraction to another customer, Teddie. Luisa, a young seamstress, also has a crush on Teddie, but her boss Renate, a mean-spirited homophobe, is determined that neither Ricky nor Luisa will ever have Teddie. When Rickie and Luisa discover Renate's plot against them, they plan their own revenge against her.