False Impression concerns an international journey through several countries and continents, including London, New York, Bucharest and Tokyo, and includes historical information about the September 11 attacks on New York, which the protagonist, Anna Petrescu, escapes after being fired by the dishonest banker Bryce Fenston. From this point on, the book tells the story of Anna trying to help Arabella Wentworth, a British aristocrat, to recover her family’s fortune by selling a historical painting by Vincent van Gogh, which Bryce Fenston is intent on acquiring. She is followed closely by Olga Krantz, a mercenary on service to Fenston, and by Jack Delaney, an FBI agent who is investigating Fenston and trying to discover if Anna is still working for Fenston.