An admiral is on trial for having defied the President while carrying out the orders of a rebellious Congress?A President is on trial for having failed to act when a crisis threatened his country.

In a nation's darkest hour, a terrorist strikes.

Congressional aide Jim Dillon discovered a little known provision in the U.S. Constitution and it plunged the federal government into chaos. Now he struggles to gain control over the extraordinary events his actions precipitated: volunteering for the defense team at the court marshal of Admiral Ray Billings, who disregarded a presidential order by leading an assault on foreign terrorists. At the same time, in the South Pacific, a fanatic plans to exploit the weaknesses of an American government in upheaval by brutally shedding American blood and taking innocent citizens hostage. But nothing will prevent a great nation from doing what is right, no matter what the price, not when the honor and the future of America is at stake.