A man of many talents, many accents and many passports, Al Brown is the only son of French emigrants. Brown's family made an honest living in their small book shop in New Jersey, but young Al Brown dreamt of life outside the small town. He travelled to France, where he met a con artist and learned several ways of making a quick Franc. After adopting the name Alphonse Brunette, Al began acquiring phony art pieces and passing them off as the real thing. A number of years ago he almost made a killing in Paris when he produced what he swore were the missing appendages of the Venus de Milo. It was at this time that Mr. Xavier Boddy conacted Brunette and purchased a painting. Brunette passed off a fake Monet to Mr. Boddy who in turn gave the painting to Sir Hugh Black as a Christmas gift. More recently, Al's business has been on its last legs due to the questionable authenticity of several Impressionist works he sold to Mr. Miles Meadow-Brook. In an effort to bolster his financial standings, Brunette recruited his daughter, girlfriend and an art teacher to help in a plan to steal a map from the back of the painting he had sold to Xavier Boddy years earlier. Under the impression that the map is key to finding a hidden treasure, Brunette may find that the map leads to something more than he bargained for.