Admiral Chegwidden investigates the apparent suicide of his mentor, Admiral Clancy, who allegedly shot himself while on a hunting trip with several friends. Chegwidden can't believe that his friend would kill himself, and discovers that someone else may have actually pulled the trigger.

Following her ugly break-up with Dalton Lowne, Mac has reason to believe that he's stalking her -- until he's killed during an apparent car-jacking and the stalking continues. Much to Harm's dismay, the strain of the two events pushes Mac to the edge -- and to the bottle. Concerned for Mac's safety and sobriety, Harm intensifies his search for Mac's tormentor before he causes her bodily harm.

Political pressures come into play after an F-14 pilot clips a ski helicopter during a NATO exercise over Italian airspace, killing six civilians. Harm and Mac are assigned to opposite sides in the case, but the Italian government wants to prosecute on its own.

After Admiral Chegwiddens daughter, Francesca, is kidnapped in Italy, Chegwidden meets with his ex-wife, Marcella, and her husband, a wealthy Italian businessman, to get more background on Francesca's friends -- and enemies. Chegwidden learns that Francesca was seriously involved with the heir to a Mafia family -- a man Harm and Mac believe is responsible for the theft of Navy missiles for sale to Afghanistan. All intelligence points to the fact that Francesca is caught in the middle of this business deal gone awry, and it's up to Chegwidden and Harm to rescue her from the mob.