Clay Carter, a young Washington, D.C., public defender wishing for a better career, is seduced by the lure of big money--and thrown into the midst of a dangerous conspiracy--when he is offered a position negotiating settlements for powerful drug companies.

Reporter Marcia "Carley" DeCarlo uncovers a dangerous conspiracy when she sets out to investigate the disappearance of Nicholas Spencer, the head of the medical research company Gen-stone, who reportedly looted the company and fled shortly after receiving word that the anticancer vaccine developed by Gen-stone was being denied FDA approval.