At 18, easygoing Benedict Juliard has no stronger ambition than to ride as an amateur jockey in steeplechase races. His father, George, driven toward a life of public service and politics, asks his only son to enter into a pact that neither of them will commit any act that could destroy the father's growing reputation and burgeoning political career. Five years later, after graduating from university and experiencing the working world, Ben has abandoned his dream of life on the racecourse, and enters the political arena as his father's staunchest ally and most trusted confidant. Despite his allegiance to the promise he made to his father, Ben finds himself targeted in a vicious attack mounted by George's increasingly violent enemies. Through the son, the father is to be discredited and destroyed. As George Juliard makes his drive toward the prime ministership, Ben is plunged into a frightening morass of lies and treachery.