In Europe, the Americans are pulling out their troops in a tide of isolationism. Britain, torn between loyalties to the United States and the continent, is caught in the middle. In America, a space shuttle crashes on landing, killing all but one of the crew on board: a British citizen named Mike Dreyfuss, who will become vilified by the US press and protesters. Halfway across the world, at British ground-control headquarters, Martin Hepton watches with dismay as systems lose contact with the most advanced satellite in Europe. A colleague of Hepton's who suspects something strange is going on disappears. Hepton realizes there is much more at stake than anyone knows - and many more people on their trail than they can possibly evade . . .