The novel is about the Cambridge-educated heir of a Pittsburgh steel fortune, who, during the Cold War, turns traitor to his country and causes the death of some honorable and well-intentioned people. The main story is about how this man, short of any solid moral principles, deals with his disgrace, while the waves of shame that wash up on his family's stormy shores devastate the lives of its other moneyed members. The suspense arises from the psychologically clever and morally compelling revenge of the son of one of the men who lost his life because of the heir's treason.