When Lieutenant Conde is asked to investigate the disappearance of an old schoolmate who married the girl of his dreams, his desire for her threatens the already-sensitive investigation.

In 1939, the S.S. Saint Louis spent several days anchored at Havana while waiting for the Cuban authorities to allow 900 Jewish refugees from Germany into their country. Confident that a painting by Rembrandt that had belonged to their family since the 17th century--and which they had smuggled on board the ship--would convince the Cubans to let them in, little Daniel Kaminsky and his uncle waited at the dock for their relatives to disembark. But the...