When a successful British ghostwriter agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang, his agent assures him it is the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang's long-term aide, died in an accident. The ghostwriter flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. Lang faces prosecution by the International Criminal Court, unless he stays in the U.S. or goes to another country that does not recognize that court.

The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth, and his personal assistant (and mistress), Amelia. As the ghostwriter works, he uncovers clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA—and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind.

Lang is assassinated, but the ghostwriter eventually completes the book anyway. During the presentation of the book, the ghostwriter stumbles upon the final clues to the mystery.