The story opens in 1954 with Albert E. Kahn, father of three and blacklisted publisher, struggling to keep his two-man Manhattan firm for blacklisted authors afloat during the height of McCarthyism.  By its conclusion, he has staked his success, his freedom, and the well-being of his family and colleagues on an eccentric, charming, narcissistic ex-FBI informant whose secrets hold the power to upend Senator Joseph McCarthy's stranglehold on American politics. 

This informer's name: Harvey Matusow.