El Mico controls every major crime along the Mediterranean, yet does he exist? Modesty Blaise sets out to fulfil the wishes of a dying friend, watched by El Mico who believes that she will lead him to a prize of immeasurable value. Travelling from Tangier to Paris, from Corsica into the Atlas mountains where Modesty must enter Xanadu, El Mico's palace, and defeat his soldiers in gladiatorial duels to the death.