Jessica receives an invitation to enjoy a magnificent evening with German violin virtuoso Greta Mueller. However, their time together takes a sharp turn when Jessica, her escort Mr. Wyckham, Greta, and Greta's brother Franz are forced into a car and subsequently sequestered in the British embassy. Reunited with agent Michael Haggarty, who has been assigned to protect Greta and Franz, Jessica finds herself struggling to sort out the international intrigue into which she has tumbled.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: Given Greta's passion for independence in her life and Franz being more determined to stay under the eye of their German escort, one would think she would be the defector. Actually, he was.
- The Bus Came Back: Michael Haggarty returns after his last appearance in "Widow, Weep for Me."
- Child by Rape: Mrs. Claymore's mother conceived her after one of the white men at the plantation where she worked forced himself on her. If her mother knew who it was, she never said, and they moved away shortly afterwards.
- Closed Circle: The embassy has been locked down in order to prevent interference by the East German Secret Police.
- Dying Clue: As he's dying from a poisoned stab wound, Mr. Kendall grabs one of the white roses on a nearby bush. This leads Jessica to realize that the killer was someone involved with a long-ago operation called White Rose.
- Give Me a Reason: Mr. Wyckham tries to escape after Jessica outs him as the killer and Michael finds the weapon on him. However, Michael holds the blade against him, daring him to give him a chance to use it.
- Historical Domain Character: While Franz and Greta are talking to Jessica the first time, Franz says that Greta and he could not have escaped East Germany without the help of Konrad Schumann
. Schumann was the first person who escaped over the Berlin Wall that lived to tell about it. - I Have Your Wife: When Greta finds out about her brother's secret life as a spy, she explodes at him about not considering how this would affect the rest of the family. As she feared, the German government takes their mother and father into custody to force them to return. However, Greta insists on returning alone, and she seems to think the government will care less about her brother defecting to the United States than her defecting.
- It's Personal: The case becomes more serious for Michael after Kendall's body turns up in the garden. He and Michael were close and in fact Michael had recruited him into the spy business.
- Punk in the Trunk: How Haggarty managed to "rescue" the Muellers. Luckily their pursuers didn't shoot at their car as they were giving chase.
- Red Herring: The behavior of Mrs. Claymore, the first secretary's wife, makes Jessica suspicious. And since the clue to the killer is a "White Rose" and Mrs. Claymore is clad in a beautiful WHITE gown, it's easy to assume that the clue referred to her. However, she eventually finds out privately from the couple that their secret is quite different and unrelated to the current plot.
- Seeking Sanctuary: After rescuing the Muellers, Jessica and Wyckham, Hagarty and Kendall drive their limo to the British Embassy in Washington DC to seek sanctuary.
- Sword Cane: Well, a knife-pipe. Mr. Wyckham has a knife built into his pipe.
- There Was a Door: Michael calls the first secretary at the British embassy about sanctuary and says should get the gates open because they're going Too Fast to Stop. When the secretary protests the lack of hands on deck, Michael bluntly tells him that he had better get the gate open if he doesn't want them to make a hole in it.
- The Tragic Rose: Michael's coworker, Mr. Kendall, turns up dead in the garden holding a white rose in his hand.
