The Cold War is over and CIA officer Cody Ballantine, exiled to the newly opened consulate in the Russian Far East, receives an unexpected visitor. In a conference room overlooking Golden Horn Bay, Andrei Danilov, a distinguished looking older gentleman, claims to be Captain Andrew Thompson, an American aviator, perhaps the lone survivor of a reconnaissance aircraft shot down by Soviet MiGs in 1954.

A cautiously skeptical Ballantine sends Danilov's photograph, Air Force serial number, and fingerprints to CIA headquarters. But no official records—other than the shootdown near Cape Gamov—exist to verify Danilov's claim. With little documentation, Ballantine must resolve troublesome questions: How could an American MIA survive and prosper in Siberia for 38 years? On the other hand, might Danilov be an ex-MVD officer, perhaps one who interrogated the real Captain Thompson? Is this a scheme by a crafty opportunist to ressurect a man long presumed dead and thus lay claim to back pay, military retirement and U.S. citizenship?

The Gamov Incident describes Ballantine's effort to unravel a decades-old mystery while coping with emotional conflict arising from a troubled past.