On the Greek Island of Samothrace, the natives are born dispossessed. They mourn the loss of their Nike, the most beautiful of classical statues, the timeless embodiment of victory and grace. For centuries she was the island's soul, the winged protectress of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. Buried by an earthquake, she was recovered in the 1860s by a French antiquarian - only to be whisked away to ornament the Louvre.

No one feels this loss, this grudge, so deeply as Photi Anthropotis. Keeper of the sanctuary's ruins, the damaged, hapless Photi dreams of glory, of rescuing his goddess in distress. He is abetted in his fantasy by two beautiful women, an innocent, love-starved French museum guard and a glamorous narcissistic American documentary filmmaker. Together they hatch the art theft of the century - together, but each to his or her own ends.