It's the fourth of July, 2010, and the governors of four western states are threatening to secede from the Union in their outrage at the federal government's takeover of land for environmental purposes. Their bargaining tool: the mighty Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Arizona. If the president does not give in to their demands within seventy-two hours, they will destroy the dam, and the lives of thousands will be at risk. Their ultimatum: accession of all constitutional rights and full military control of their borders.

With the president and vice president overseas, responsibility falls to Secretary of State Barbara Reynolds, an African-American diplomat as savvy as she is shrewd. As the western states' National Guard faces up against the U.S. Marines in Arizona, Reynolds sends Dr. Allison Carter to negotiate. But Carter finds himself entwined in a web of deceit and betrayal, and faced with dangerous questions for which he has no answers.