In the dim future, the energy crisis has forced most of the world's populations into huge urban centers, and countries have banded together in protective political confederations. Noram (the confederation of North and South America) is currently involved in maneuvers to avoid being sucked into another world war. Premier Alton and his Consuls have decided to stage a mock revolution in order to convince their allies that Noram is in no shape or position to wage war on so many fronts.

To lend credence to their plot, they plan to accuse Shanlon Raille, a magician by trade and a minor lobbyist, of fomenting the revolution. And while that much of the plan works, little else does. And Shanlon Raille, while running for his life and trying to establish his own innocence, must battle all the harder because he knows that if he fails, if the jockeying for power at the top succeeds while people are dying in the streets, Noram will collapse, and with it the world ...