Oil is discovered in the East China Sea, and Taiwan's charismatic leader, David Chu-Yen, declares independence from mainland China in the face of Beijing's threat to invade. London journalist David Goldman, sent to cover the story, quickly finds that all is not as it first seems on the offshore island. Nuclear weapons pointing at China seem to have been hidden in the mountains by mysterious Asian secret societies. America's top general, ordered to stop the invasion, has his own secret agenda which stops nothing short of regime change in Beijing. For America's first lady president, this is the fast-track to Armageddon as she asks, "Just whose finger is on the nuclear button?"