Marshall Stone is an international superstar and charismatic member of Hollywood's elite. Abundantly blessed with charm, genius and wealth, he desires still one more quality: everlasting youth. Marshall thinks he may get what he wants when an eminent author begins writing a biography on him, but the book threatens to expose his painfil, untold true story.

Dazzled by flattery and numbed by threats, the biographer gets caught up in a world where books are properties, films are investments, ratings are rigged, and stars and directors are bought and sold like inanimate objects. The rituals, politics, and back-stabbing tactics of the richest industry in the world have never been more effectively portrayed than in this classic Deighton written with his signature thriller flair.