Tehran, 1978. With a collapsing economy and street demonstrations growing in size, number, and violence, the ailing Shah of Iran responds with increasing brutality. CIA operative David Weiseman, posing as a representative of the US State Department, is sent into the heart of the tumult to convince the Shah to step down, and find a strong, democratically minded replacement - before far-right religious extremists win the day. Weiseman finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a shadowy world of unscrupulous operatives from other governments, covert back alley meetings with scheming ayatollahs, military officers, politicians, and even officers from the Shah's vicious secret police.