Strike a deal with the devil or send one million men to their deaths? this is the choice facing franklin roosevelt and winston churchill in march 1945. the manhattan project is behind schedule and will not produce the a-bomb until 1947. without it, the invasion of mainland japan will become a bloody reality. two german scientists, the only men whose knowledge can deliver the doomsday weapon, are in berlin and about to fall into the hands of the advancing soviet armies. in their desperation, the allied leaders agree to pay a terrible price. their faustian pact returns from the ashes to haunt the career of present-day us presidential candidate, eric pauli. someone, maybe pauli himself, knows the awful truth and is willing to kill in order to ensure it never sees the light of day.