The main character of the novel is only 12 years old, she is unusually smart and independent. Besides, this girl is a rich heiress. She runs - runs from Amsterdam, across Europe, to her father, fleeing from her psychopathic mother, whose terrible secret she accidentally learned. Only one person can help Alice escape - Hugo Cornelius Torop, an aspiring writer and fighter for the rights of the oppressed, accustomed to fighting, able to kill and not attached to anything.