Peter John "Pete" Wallis, a retired and widowed billionaire, receives a call from the wife of a longtime friend informing him that his friend has passed away suddenly. At the funeral Pete Wallis finds out that his friend had been hectored into an early grave by some overly zealous government bureaucrats who took it upon themselves to act beyond the scope of the law created by the United States Congress. Sipping vintage Macallan in front of a roaring fire at his home in northwest Wyoming, Pete Wallis reflected upon his many years of friendship with John Ross and the outrage of his death. Then sadness turned to anger. Then anger turned to action. Pete began to create a list. The left side of "The List" contained the names and organizations whose lives he would make miserable. The right side of this list contained the names of people whose lives would be shortened. In the morning calls would be made.