Tim Johnson is having a thoroughly unremarkable bad day involving a dead car, an expensive mechanic, and a bus that seems personally committed to disappointing him. Things take an unexpected turn when an impossibly glamorous woman approaches him outside Maison Belle, a boutique where Tim suspects even the empty space between the dresses costs more than his car repairs.

Allison Kensington is accustomed to getting what she wants, and at the moment she seems unusually interested in a software engineer wearing jeans, sneakers, and a jacket that has clearly seen better days. Her questions are becoming suspiciously personal, her attention to his appearance borders on professional assessment, and Tim is beginning to wonder whether he's accidentally wandered into the world's most expensive recruitment interview.

Whatever Allison has in mind, she appears to have the confidence, connections, and financial resources to make it happen. Tim, who makes a living finding flaws in complicated systems, is discovering that asking the right questions only seems to encourage her.

By the time the conversation turns toward Paris, Tim's delayed bus is rapidly becoming the least interesting problem of his afternoon.