The year is 1987 and the Cold War is still ranging strong. Steve Darwood is a US Army counterintelligence agent in South Korea, working in Tongduchon, a small city close to the North Korean border, located very near the demilitarized zone, when he stumbles across a black-marketing operation that appears to be blackmailing soldiers for various types of information. Investigating further, he begins to uncover a network of criminals who appear to be linked to numerous military personnel.

As Darwood continues to investigate, he begins to come against resistance from his own chain of command and then quickly unravels connections to higher ranking individuals in his own command structure. In very little time, Darwood finds himself alone, working against many of his own people, relying on his extensive network of sources, connections and allies.

His investigation leads him through the heirarchy of his own military command in South Korea, and slowly he begins to realize that the network might go even higher, pushing him into a situation where he must challenge his own people, who hold the reins of his job, his livelihood and even his life.