FBI Special Agent Jim Mason is sent to the Twin Cities to head up the investigation of a plane crash that killed a prominent US Senator. Within hours of landing at MSP, Mason discovers that there is much more to this investigation than an air disaster. Fourteen men, most of them as yet unidentified, have been found shot and then burned, beyond recognition, in either a horrific traffic accident or a house fire. As Mason and his team dig into the events it becomes clear that one man, Kyle Johnson, is linked to all the deaths. But where is he? As Mason directs a nationwide manhunt, Johnson is loose somewhere in the American West. As the net draws tighter around Johnson the stakes become higher. Much higher: Kyle Johnson had discovered a secret cache of nuclear weapons deep underneath the high plains of Eastern Montana. With time running out, Mason frantically searches for both Johnson and the men who control the hidden nukes. As the clock winds down, it becomes clear that the very survival of the country is at stake.