Called out of retirement to serve as the new President's National Security Adviser‚ Jack Ryan quickly realizes that the problems of peace are fully as complex as those of war. Enemies have become friends‚ friends enemies‚ and even the form of conflict has changed. When one of those new enemies readies a strike not only at America's territory‚ but at the heart of her economy‚ it is Ryan who must somehow prepare an untested President to meet the challenge.