A story of doubt, fear, suspense, conspiracy and death, but also of love and joy, before a vicious revolt against the orderly tranquility of a future world governed by ideals of non-violence and consensus can finally be put down.
Steers is young, good-looking, brilliant, self-assureda promising international official. Then, unexpectedly, his world three tins of pure heroin are found in his luggage as he transits through Rome. Despite his protests he is tried and convicted. After seven nightmarish years in Italian prisons, his escape is mysteriously arranged by one of the so-called 'brigades' of political extremists who need him to run the sham prosecution of a well-known American personality they plan to kidnap. When their terrorist plot fails, he is given fake papers and returns to the US under a false name. Once there, however, he is blackmailed and placed as a top business manager by one of the drug empires which, as he later learns, had been responsible for his original arrest in a bungled effort to recruit him as a 'mule'. Years later, he is able to extricate himself and find love and serenity under his own name, and in a new life.