Carol Golden is now married and working part time as a volunteer listener on a crisis hotline in Southern California when she receives a call from a man who calls himself Danny, and who says he's afraid he will be killed. He also talks about being a backgammon player. Since Carol plays backgammon, herself, and wants to help Danny if she can, she disobeys the rules of the hotline by trying to track him down. This leads her into the world of tournament backgammon where she finds it may not be the gentle game she has always thought of it as, because players are dying and there may be connections to a gambling casino and even to a clandestine spy agency. Carol needs the help of her husband, Rigo, her spy friend, Alice, and Jennifer, the daughter of a backgammon player, to figure out what's going on and to keep herself from getting in so deep she can't get out. The book has appendices containing backgammon tips.