This is the story of mick scott, some which is based on the author's vietnam wartime experiences. after graduating from armed forces journalism and defense information school in 1967, he is sent there as a reporter for armed forces radio. on the way he is ordered to report to us intelligence in san francisco where he is recruited for a special assignment. it entails finding a saigon street kid who is the long-lost son of a top north vietnamese communist official; perhaps ho chi minh himself. once found, intelligence hopes to use the kid as a pawn in peace negotiations. meanwhile, scott travels throughout vietnam as a reporter, which provides a vehicle to impart what is happening in arguably the most pivotal year of the war; 1967-68, with the tet ofensive as the catalytic episode. as the story progresses, he crosses paths with a double-agent, and the infamous panther lady who is riding around saigon on a motorbike gunning down gis. along with them, the kid intelligence wants him to find, and his drinking buddy bobby, scott becomes entangled in a sticky web of intrigue and deceit.