Britain in the mid-1980s is a country in the grip of a brutal fascist regime. There is rioting in the streets, cold-blood massacres by extremist political groups, attempted coups by liberating forces based on the continent. Mak Seaton is a senior civil servant whose strengths and weaknesses are bound up in the view that his duty is to the ruling faction. But when Seaton uncovers evidence of corruption at the highest levels of power, even his wealth and position cannot protect him from the Triumvirate.