 Emily Boynton, step-mother to the three Boynton children and mother to Ginevra, blackmails the family lawyer, Jefferson Cope, into destroying a second will of her late husband which would have freed the childern from her dominating influence. She takes herself and the children on holiday to Europe and the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, Hercule Poirot meets up with a woman friend, Dr. King who falls in love with Raymond Boynton to Emily s disapproval. Lady Westholme, her secretary and Cope are following them too. The children discover about the second will and Emily succeeds in rubbing the rest up the wrong way causing much hatred towards her. At a dig, everybody wonders about the camp and Emily is found dead... poisoned. Poirot investigates...