What makes a nation believe a lie? That’s the question Jay Nichols has been trying to answer since he first experienced widespread mass hysteria as a child. A question that started when Orson Welles put millions across America into a panic in less than an hour. Now, his Ph.D. work is attracting the attention of world powers, secret societies, and dark organizations. Only they don’t care if he can answer the question. They just want him to build a weapon. After Nichols refuses all the recruiters, a stranger shows up at his apartment with a warning. As the student’s life becomes ever stranger and more dangerous, Nichols is dragged into the world of secrets, lies, and espionage. Unsure of whom to trust, the final question he has to ask himself is what kind of person he wants to be, while the spies around him try to ensure he picks their side.