In Philadelphia, ex-US Marine Ranger Max Carver has just been convicted and incarcerated for bank robbery, the $20 million from the robbery not recovered by the authorities. With widowed Max in prison, his teenaged son, Steven Carver, becomes the ward of his sister, Julia Carver, an up and coming fashion designer. When they were teenagers, Julia was in a relationship with Max's best friend, who ended up being a fellow Marine Ranger named Kurt Warnecke, now a music store employee. Max and Kurt also once played in a jazz combo together. While Kurt was the one who initiated the break up, Julia has kept her distance from him largely for not watching out for such troubles in which Max is currently. Julia receives a postcard from Max in prison. She discovers that the postcard is only the first clue in a long ago mapped out treasure hunt - such games which the two used to play when they were younger - probably to the location of the $20 million. Due to the nature of one of the clues, Julia enlists Kurt's help in the hunt. Julia also soon discovers the cryptic nature of Max's messages and the need to make it a hunt is that his co-conspirators in the robbery are also after the money, and will stop at nothing, including kill her, Steven and any other person who tries to help her, to get it. In the process, Julia may discover her true feelings for Kurt, and may learn that not all that appears on the surface is reality.
—Huggo