The highly successful campaign consultant Sybil Stone, diagnoised with cancer, is told to "get her house in order." Determined to leave a mark on Washington DC politics, she plans to posthumously publish a book about sex and politics. The president of Wiley and Wiley Publications agrees to publish her manuscript under her pseudonym "The Iron Butterfly"--the unflattering moniker given her by her daughters. Shaken by several deaths linked to her manuscript, Stone turns to an old friend, Senator William Hertz, head of the Senate Ethics Committee. She publishes her book immediately so Hertz has a rationale for launching a Senate investigation into her claims about a secret governmental agency known as "the Second Secret Service." Everyone around Washington is speculating about the author's identity when the block-buster finally hits book stores. The real question, however, remains unanswered until the final pages: Who operates the servicce and what's its real purpose?