The story is set in Boston during the late 1970's and told by one observer, who remains detached and creates vivid scenes for the reader as the story unfolds. This young man is a Viet Nam veteran and recent college graduate from a Midwestern University, who gets his first job as a special assistant to the main character, a company CEO. He quickly learns that his boss has a shady past that could include government espionage. He is the only person in the book who is not corrupted by the extreme desire to accumulate wealth and live the "good life." Most of the other primary characters have confused and fleeting values and their own unique form of moral decay. One of the most flamboyant members of the CEO's executive team consistently demonstrates selfish and arrogant behavior and flaunts the relationship with his mistress to coworkers and friends. His wife, who was raised as a "southern bell," comes from old money and tries to create a warm, exciting image but the readers slowly learn that she is as self centered as her husband and much colder. Her best friend creates a smoke screen of apparent virtue to cover her cowardice and dishonesty to support the denial of her true amoral nature. The Boston "social scene" puts the main character on a pedestal which further magnifies the reality that he is a tragic hero who has worked feverishly to reach the top tier of society that remains beyond his reach. The primary symbols of wealth and power are ostentatious, richly furnished and massive "high rise" homes that overlook the city and Boston Harbor. The narrator is pulled into the role of "match maker" for his boss and his team member's wife. They mutually rekindle a relationship that they believed had ended several years earlier. Our hero's sordid past crashes into the trail of deceit that they create, causing the two deaths to end the story.