As the Cold War sputters to a close and the Soviet Union disintegrates, rogue elements on both sides of the Iron Curtain join in a deadly plot to maintain their hold on power. Months later, international telephone intercepts trigger a CIA investigation into the nebulous codeword "Jabberwock." Cameron Quinn, a veteran clandestine officer with a drinking problem, draws the task of tracking it down. After his superiors doubt Jabberwock's importance, Quinn turns for help to a former FBI buddy, Burke Hill, whose tarnished career ended years earlier. For Hill, it becomes a quest to prove his own worth after an accident forces him to continue the investigation alone, without CIA sanction. With the help of Quinn's daughter Lori, a former CIA operative, he discovers a multinational team of killers rehearsing on an island off the Florida coast. As official and unofficial forces work to stop them, Burke and Lori realize they hold the only hope of stopping a plot to assassinate the American and Russian presidents.