In October of 1996, Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The disease spread to his lungs and brain. Doctors gave him a 50-50 chance to live. Three years later, Armstrong recovered to win the first of an unprecedented seven consecutive victories in the Tour de France. He became a global hero who transcended sport. Then it all came apart. Armstrong was accused of leading the most sophisticated doping operation in elite sport. All seven of his Tour de France victories were nullified and he was banned from sport for life.

Jere Longman, an award-winning sportswriter for The New York Times and best-selling author, sifts through 1,000 pages of accusatory documents and provides a comprehensive chronology of Armstrong's undoing. He examines the pressures that cyclists felt to use performance-enhancing drugs, the pervasiveness and consuming use of banned substances and the debate about whether athletes who use these drugs should be vilified or accepted.