The year is 1969 and much of the world is in turmoil. The Vietnam War rages on in Southeast Asia and NATO is still focused on the Bear - The Soviet Union. Into this arena arrives Derek Smith, site security chief for the US Embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland. Held responsible for the failures at the US Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, Smith has been transferred to Iceland as punishment.Soviet commandos break into Smiths apartment by mistake and so set the stage for a battle against time. Embroiled in this conflict are the mutinous crew of a Russian submarine, a sunken WWII U-boat loaded with gold, secret agents from countries around the globe and innocent players wrapped up in the conflict.Smith has a checkered past once a collegiate fencing champion, graduate of The State Departments Diplomatic Security Service, and scapegoat for the failings at the Embassy in Saigon, he is spiraling into a conflict seemingly out of his league. To complicate things even further, Smith falls in love with the Icelandic Minister of Roads, a woman gifted in many ways and who seems to be other than she claims.