June 1939: Hitler betrays Stalin and invades the Soviet Union. The "man of steel" falls apart and is incapable of issuing coherent orders. Appalled, the top generals decide that Stalin's dereliction of duty is tantamount to treason. He is to be removed - permanently. An ingenious assassination plot is set into motion...

June 1974: Two powerful and ruthless men are locked in a struggle, each determined to be the next head of the KGB. One of them has a dark secret in his past, which he cannot let come to light - his role in the scheme to kill Stalin.

There is but one man left alive who can link him to the plot. A man who disappeared into the maelstrom of a world war and must now be tracked down and eliminated.

KGB agent Alexander Lucovich is tasked with the job. As he proceeds from Moscow to London and Edmonton, he finds himself enmeshed in a web of intrigue and subterfuge. Completing his assignment is one thing, surviving is another.