1940. Europe is ablaze. America is undecided about joining the fight against Nazism. James Zennor, a brilliant, troubled Oxford don is horrified. Then he returns from rowing to discover his wife has disappeared with their young son, leaving a note declaring her continuing love. A frantic search through wartime England leads James across the Atlantic to Yale, one of America's greatest universities - right to the heart of the American establishment. And in his hunt for his family, James unearths one of the deadliest secrets of a world at war.