One summer day in August, while vacationing at his beach home in Florida, Irwin Cole receives a mysterious package that leads him to discover that his wife is missing. While Cole desperately tries to determine the reasons for her disappearance, the FBI shows up at his door. He soon learns that the FBI suspects he is responsible for his wife's disappearance and possibly her murder. . . Now on the run, from both the FBI and the forces trying to destroy him, Cole follows his only lead: a clue he found hidden in the package. It leads him to a private island off the coast of West Florida where he finds that nothing is as it seems. Unsettling events continue to take place, both in Florida and all the way to Washington D.C., including a missing FBI agent and an unidentified body found at his beach home. When Cole discovers a timetable for the murder of his wife, his quest becomes a race against the clock. As the body count continues to grow, the pressure builds for the FBI to make an arrest. Despite all the evidence, including a confession, the FBI is reluctant to charge their prime suspect, because Irwin S. Cole is a popular United States senator.