A talented young woman wins a full scholarship to a prestigious women's college, marries the son of a prominent Boston family, and newly married, lives in Berlin. This is the unlikely beginning of blackmail, harassment, and efforts to destroy her life. Her husband, a rising star in the State Department, becomes involved with an ambitious British woman. His wife, Mary Ann, soon becomes a target of this deceitful couple. She is caught in a web of deceit, lies, and revenge. Her life seems to spiral into a dark place with no escape.

A chance meeting with a guy from her high school class changes her future. He fell in love with Mary Ann while they were both still in seventh grade, and he never forgot her. After she is falsely arrested for solicitation of minors for sexual activities, he calls upon several of his friends who served with him in the navy. One is now an FBI agent. Another works for the CIA as an electronic warfare specialist. The third friend works for the enigmatic N35, a black operations organization.

Under FBI agent Wolf's leadership, this group launches an unofficial investigation. But soon, they learn that the techniques being used to track and harass Mary Ann are used by an international arms dealer and the vengeful power couple to launder money, and it becomes a major investigation. This leads to uncovering connections in Berlin, Stockholm, Washington, and Boston.

But despite accumulating significant evidence, justice is smothered by the power and money used by the former husband's family. When a US attorney and the attorney general of the United States refuse to pursue prosecution or seek a grand jury, it becomes clear that money and power trump justice, at least for the moment.