In 1938, Jason Gilbert, a world famous composer, undergoes dangerous brain surgery to discover why he is suffering from debilitating headaches. The surgeons discover a brain tumor and remove it. To everyone's relief, the tumor is found to be benign. However, Gilbert soon discovers that the surgery has rendered him tone deaf. Bereft of his talent, he desperately searches for a new life. Gilbert travels to Paris-the scene of one of his many musical triumphs-where he gets caught up in a bizarre escapade involving famous journalists, Soviet secret police, an attractive divorcée, and desperate musicians. This leads to a chain of events that takes Gilbert and others to Marseilles, New York, Hollywood, Mexico City, Acapulco, Costa Rica, Lisbon, and the battlefields of France during World War II. He also meets an eclectic group of people: French painter Henri Matisse; German composer Arnold Schoenberg; Hungarian novelist Arthur Koestler; American journalist Bertram Wolfe; dictator Joseph Stalin; America's greatest code-breaker, William Friedman; and William Donovan, the head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), who makes Gilbert a charter staff member of the new organization. Working for the OSS makes Gilbert feel alive. But will music ever again play a part in his life?