Tess Harper is a professor at the National War College when newly elected President Isley asks her to become the National Security Advisor. President Isley's wife, Margot, confronts Tess right away, because in her mind, the President wants a beautiful woman on his staff for only one reason.

Tess soon learns that Margot has reason to be jealous, because the President's executive assistant, Faye Bradley, has been his mistress since his days as a cadet at The Citadel.

Early in the first year in office, Tess leads a secret delegation to Geneva on a mission to open a back-channel dialog with Iran. It immediately becomes obvious that the Iranian delegation has been given the United States strategy by someone in the White House.

When Tess begins her secret investigation to find the traitor, evidence points toward the President's mistress. Is Faye an agent for a foreign power? Does the President know? If he does know, is he also working for a foreign power? As the investigation gets closer to the truth, people begin to die.