Edwin P. Wilson was the Great Gatsby of the spook world, the rogue CIA agent who had already begun to amass a fortune while still in U.S. intelligence. His lavish estate outside Washington, D.C. was a favored gathering place for senators and congressmen, admirals and generals, and for key intelligence officers. Both the CIA and the FBI were aware of Wilson's secret, illegal weapons-trafficking activities with Libya's Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, but they had done nothing to stop him. To everyone who knew him, Edwin Wilson seemed above the law.

Then, U.S. attorney Larry Barcella discovered Wilson's sinister machinations, and in a chase that would go on for nearly four years and over three continents, Barcella began a manhunt that would not end until Wilson was brought to justice.