Journalist Alex Vane has finally found stability. He's living with a fiery massage therapist and co-managing a website that investigates the inner workings of the media. But when he breaks a story detailing low-level political corruption in Washington, a source hints at a vaster conspiracy, one that may reach all the way to the top of the fast-approaching 2004 presidential election. At a conference in Seattle, Alex runs into an old friend—and flame—Media Studies Professor Camila Gray. But just as they begin to reconnect, Alex's business partner disappears, leaving Alex only one clue: the name of a hacker who was recently murdered in New York City. Alex and Camila travel to Alex's hometown, where they race to untangle a web of connections between the dead hacker, the disappearance of Alex's partner, and the death of Alex's parents seven years earlier. But all the while, a mysterious source is pulling the strings of their investigation, of the election, and possibly of their lives.