Abortion becomes the nuclear bomb in the battle of the sexes when Nora Heisy makes hers public. One live demonstration being worth a thousand speeches, Heisy takes the leadership of a raging women's empowerment movement. Women, she posits, hold the power of birth, and therefore, the denial of birth. It is through abortion that women can control men and achieve their rightful position as rulers of the culture. Gus Bolderjack gets "the summons" from the powerful, mysterious Carl Hayden, aka, The Magician, who charges him with preventing a civil war between abortion and anti-abortion forces, between traditionalists and revolutionaries. His assignment: he must neutralize Heisy without martyring her. His reward: to become target number one of the Avenging Sisterhood, a loose federation of guerilla groups viewed by themselves as freedom fighters, and by others as domestic terrorists. Once again Bolderjack gazes into the abyss, and once again it gazes back. This time it has a feminine face.