As the first woman president of the U.S., Madeline Turner faces a slew of challenges and treacheries from her very first day in office. She has precious little time to master the subtleties of governmental gamesmanship before a crisis in the Far East breaks out when China takes the first step in naked aggression against Japan. Fortunately, Maddy Turner has a staunch ally within her inner circle, General Robert Bender.
As the Chinese and Japanese fleets clash in the biggest naval engagement since World War II, Bender must give his president, a woman he doesn't really like, a crash course in the use of bare-knuckle military force that includes a nuclear option - even if it costs him his career, or possibly his life.