In the first American presidential election of the twenty-first century, the bitter contest between two implacable political rivals but lifelong personal friends is fixed with an act of cyber-terrorism. On the eve of the inauguration, the defeated candidate discovers the truth and demands that the victor, the incumbent President, step down. The President refuses, going on to take the oath of office, and thus sparking a chain of events that may destroy him and his party, and bring the Constitution crashing down on all of them.