Frank is a survivor of Vietnam and the Hanoi Hilton where he spent two years after being shot down. When he is liberated, he learns that the woman he was engaged to married another man. Depressed and despondent, he takes a cruise to clear his mind when he meets Antoinette. Antoinette is a recruiter for an organization call the "Company." She is interested in his aviation background and signs him on. He goes to Panama where the "Company" is located for basic training. Frank flies many missions for the "Company" and individuals over a thirty year period. Frank has two important women in his life as a result of his move. Antoinette gives him a son who is raised by her parents and a librarian who becomes his mistress. The novel moves back and forth between his adventures with the "Company" and his personal life. After thirty years of service with the "Company" he decides to retire. Frank learns the hard way that no one is allowed to retire from the "Company." This is the first book in Lee Dorsey's Mercenaries series.