Wily con artist Locke Lamora has come up with an ingenious scheme targeting Sinspire, a nine-story palace of gambling and all forms of debauchery in the exotic city of Tal Verrar, but somehow the con does not go as planned.
Vowing to bring down the crime boss running the city, a group of Gentlemen Bastards, led by Locke Lamora, sets out to beat the Capa at his own game, taking on other thieves, murderers, beggars, prostitutes, and thugs in the process.