Vaclav Herza, the last of a dying breed of great but tyrannical conductors, has been the long-time music director of the world-famous orchestra, Harmonium, since fleeing political turmoil in Eastern Europe for America in the mid-twentieth century.
When Herza summarily dismisses the acting concertmaster, Scheherazade O'Brien, from an audition she was poised to win and awards the position to Yumi Shinagawa, a former student of blind, cantankerous violin teacher Daniel Jacobus, the results are lethal, convulsing the entire orchestra.
Jacobus, who had earlier shunned O'Brien's plea for support against Herza's relentless harassment, investigates Herza's closely held secrets. With the help of his old friends Nathaniel Williams, Max Furukawa, and Martin Lilburn, Jacobus seeks not only revenge but redemption from the guilt of his own troubled past.