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Plot summary

Prologue

Set in the late 1990s against the backdrop of a stalemated Russo-Chinese war for control of Eastern Siberia, North Korea invades the Demilitarized Zone weeks before the planned reunification of Korea

Part I

In an effort to end the war quickly, the commander of the Russian Siberian Military District, General Yuri Razov, calls the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Andrew Thomas, to warn the United States of Russia's decision to use tactical nuclear weapons against China. Thomas tries but fails to talk Razov out of the decision. In Moscow, a radical anti-Western Russian general, Zorin, kills the civilian government and STAVKA with a bomb, seizing control of the Kremlin in a swift coup d'etat and taking command of the nuclear communicators.

In Washington, DC, US National Security Advisor Greg Lambert has dinner with Russian military attaché Pavel Filipov, a close friend of his and his family's. As a reward for US logistical cooperation in the war against China, Filipov reveals that General Zorin was the one who convinced the North Koreans to invade the Demilitarized Zone to preserve Russia's supply lines across the Korean Peninsula.

As the Russian nuclear attack on China unfolds, the US preemptively goes to DEFCON 3 and recalls all its military forces. Lambert is ordered to board Nightwatch with the rest of the Cabinet and the Joint Chiefs, while Filipov is recalled to Moscow. As the White House is evacuated, US President Walter Livingston instructs the Secretary of State to warn the Chinese of the impending strike, lest the US becomes complicit in Russia's heinous actions. Lambert is wary of the ramifications of Livingston's decision, but the chaos of the evacuation prevents the President from hearing his advisor's objections.

In Los Angeles, US Army Reserve Major David Chandler is ordered to report to March Air Force Base to take command of his unit, leaving behind his wife Melissa, who is nine months pregnant. As the mobilization continues, Melissa goes into labor and decides to leave the city.

In the Kremlin bunker, Zorin watches the US evacuation and bomber takeoffs on cable news. Outside, loyalist government forces cut off the coup plotters' communications and take the complex by force, leaving Zorin unable to contact most of Russia's armed forces, including Razov's nuclear attack in the Russian Far East.

After being warned by the US of Russia's impending nuclear attack, China retaliates by launching its own nuclear weapons against Russia. However, the warheads aimed at Moscow are intercepted by the nuclear-tipped anti-ballistic missile system deployed around the capital. Zorin, sleep-deprived and under the influence of amphetamines, is convinced that the US has taken advantage of the confusion and launched a first strike against Russia. Still in control of the nuclear communicators, Zorin orders the ICBM forces in western Russia to launch at their pre-programmed targets. Russia's ballistic missile submarines are not used in the attack, as their missiles are far less accurate than the ICBMs and thus only useful for hitting large targets with large margins of error, such as population centers. The submarines are ordered to maintain their positions in a "bastion" around the Kara Sea, to be used if Russia orders a second strike.

Part II

Still aboard Nightwatch, President Livingston and his cabinet plan for the aftermath of the nuclear strike. Since the Russian attack did not directly target civilians, casualties are relatively low. To prevent the conflict from escalating further, Livingston orders the US military to stand down and only engage Russian forces if fired upon first, a decision that causes Lambert and the military staff to question the President's judgment. The stress takes its toll on the President, who must approve every emergency decision that reaches his desk, including farming in the midst of radioactive fallout, calling the draft lottery, housing, and disaster management.

Meanwhile, at the Congressional Bunker in Greenbrier, West Virginia, the surviving members of the US Congress meet in an emergency session to pass a declaration of war, instructing the President to prosecute the war until all of Russia's nuclear forces are disarmed or destroyed. From Mount Weather, Vice President Paul Constanzo makes a televised address calling for a massive military response against Russia in retaliation for its attack on the US. Constanzo's words are diametrically opposed to Livingston's strategy, who believes that a land invasion of Russian territory and/or an attempt at forced nuclear disarmament will lead to a second nuclear exchange, this time directed at each other's cities: a mutually assured destruction scenario leading to a nuclear winter. President Livingston lands in Philadelphia to set up his cabinet on land and resolve the issues with the Vice President and Congress.

On the way back to Los Angeles, Melissa Chandler goes into labor. She gives birth to a baby boy in an overcrowded hospital in Palm Springs. In the aftermath of the nuclear attack, drinking water and food have become scarce across the United States.

Congress orders an investigation into the causes of the war and calls a number of witnesses, including National Security Advisor Greg Lambert, to the Greenbrier facilities to testify before the select committee. On his way out of the bunker, Lambert asks the military for help in locating his wife and in-laws, as he has not heard from them since boarding Nightwatch. On the irradiated outskirts of Washington DC, Lambert hitches a ride on an Army helicopter and spots his wife's abandoned car on a highway. A few miles down the road, he finds his in-laws' minivan: inside are the bodies of Lambert's wife, his relatives, and Filipov's wife, long dead from exposure to radioactive fallout.

Part III

Lambert refuses to answer the congressional committee's questions, arguing that the information is classified for national security purposes.

Although Livingston desperately tries to prevent an all-out war between the US and Russia, skirmishes between the two countries continue in and around Russia. After the governments of Germany and France refuse to support the US as part of NATO, his cabinet begins negotiating a new "Treaty on Euro-American Military Security" (TEAMS) involving the US, the UK, Italy, Canada, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Iceland, Greece, and Turkey, with Finland as a secret partner. Despite the restraint toward Russia, Livingston orders the detonation of a high-altitude nuclear warhead over Pyongyang as a warning shot to force North Korea out of its ongoing invasion. The ploy works, with North Korea notifying the United Nations of their immediate military withdrawal from the South.

The US Supreme Court, now based in Mount Weather, rules that Secretary Lambert must answer all questions put to him by the congressional committee. Again before Congress, he reveals Livingston's order to warn China of Russia's impending nuclear attack. This, along with the President's refusal to follow through on Congress' declaration of war, triggers calls for his immediate impeachment. In Russia, STAVKA decides to make any further attacks on US or allied targets contingent on Livingston's continuity as president.

With his options running out, President Livingston is notified of a secret straw vote to be held by Congress before the actual impeachment vote. If the resolution against him passes, he will order the US armed forces to a full war footing against Russia. The straw vote is a landslide for impeachment. As promised, Livingston's final act in office is to declare free-fire rules against all Russian military targets, with the notable exception of the submarines in the Kara Sea bastion. In his final moments as president, Livingston begs Lambert to stay in the cabinet to moderate Constanzo's aggression toward Russia, urging him to avoid a second nuclear exchange at all costs.

Part IV

After Constanzo is sworn in as President, the US and its allies move to invade Russia. At the same time, General Razov orders an amphibious assault on Iceland to keep a number of elite US and Canadian units from joining the main invasion force. With most of the Russian army still on the Siberian front, the western border is left lightly defended. STAVKA orders the use of nerve gas and the conscription of provisional troops to assist in the defense of the Russian homeland. Constanzo abrogates Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and admonishes former NATO members France, Germany, and Norway to respect American supply lines and military facilities. As Russia's satellites are shot down by ASAT-armed F-15s, its main submarine bases in the Baltic Sea are destroyed in a conventional bombing campaign. Russia retaliates by using Tu-22M and Tu-160 bombers to knock out power plants in the western United States, plunging cities like Los Angeles into darkness.

Major Chandler's plane lands at an air base in Prešov, Slovakia, near the border with Ukraine. On his first day in a war zone, Chandler manages to kill two of his men in an unmarked minefield. After surviving a Russian chemical bombardment, he is ordered by Colonel Harkness, the regional commander of US forces, to take command of an armored battalion, despite Chandler's protests to be transferred to an intelligence unit.

With Washington, DC, contaminated by nuclear fallout, the US government organizes a provisional capital in Philadelphia, formally transferring most functions and personnel from the bunkers and Nightwatch. National Security Advisor Gregory Lambert becomes famous among a wary civilian population for his congressional testimony against Livingston and the loss of his family in the nuclear attack.

In the Kremlin, Filipov is ordered by Razov to travel to the United States and meet with his friend Lambert (under the pretext of looking for his wife) to warn him of the orders received by the ballistic missile submarines in the Kara Sea bastion. After a debriefing at a CIA safe house in Philadelphia, Lambert tells Filipov that his wife died in the attack. In a meeting with the Principals Committee, President Constanzo reviews Filipov's taped statement. The Joint Chiefs, along with the Directors of the CIA and NSA, believe that the so-called "Kara Sea Submarine Bastion Threat" is a bluff, arguing that a dead-hand order is inconsistent with both Russia's top-down military doctrine and game theory scenarios.

Part V

While Lambert crosses the Moscow front line under a white flag to meet with Filipov, the other members of STAVKA depose General Razov. After Lambert and Filipov are informed of the impromptu coup, the latter sets out to rescue Razov. Filipov's vehicles intercept the convoy carrying Razov and his entourage outside Lefortovo Prison. Lambert offers Razov the US terms for a cease-fire, and Razov personally agrees. As Lambert's deadline passes, President Constanzo orders the attack on Moscow and the Kara Sea Bastion to begin immediately.

A newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Chandler orders his armored task force to breach the Moscow perimeter. His tank is disabled by a Russian missile and he is forced to continue on foot. When he reaches an enemy foxhole, he finds the bodies of hundreds of conscripted Russian soldiers killed by American-fired chemical weapons.

Bombs and artillery cover Moscow, and Razov, Filipov, and Lambert race back to the Kremlin. As they fight their way into the bunker, Razov takes control of the nuclear communicators and enters a code. Lambert calls President Constanzo to tell him that General Razov has agreed to the terms of the truce. Razov explains to Constanzo that the code he entered into the communicator disabled the detonators on the nuclear warheads on the Bastion's submarines, a fail-safe measure put in place by Gorbachev after the attempted coup in 1991 in order to prevent a nuclear civil war.

Constanzo sends orders to abort the naval attack on the Kara Sea. Most of the abort orders are acknowledged, but the cruiser USS Anzio is engaged in battle with one of the submarines and its communications are knocked out. The destroyer USS John S. McCain is ordered to sink the Anzio; the order arrives too late, however, and the Anzio fires its ASROC batteries at the Russian submarine, triggering the override orders for all of the Bastion's forces to launch their missiles. Razov assures Constanzo that the warheads will not detonate, but Constanzo does not believe him, despite Lambert's pleas. In response to the launches, Constanzo orders the US Navy's SSBNs to launch their missiles against Russia on their own orders: the detection of an electromagnetic pulse consistent with a nuclear attack against US soil.

The Russian missiles hit their targets all over the United States; true to Razov's word, no nuclear warheads are detonated. As American and Russian forces agree to a cease-fire and pull back from the fighting, Lambert, Filipov, and Razov climb out of the Kremlin bunker and onto a badly damaged Red Square. Still angry, Filipov bids farewell to his former friend Lambert, and Razov hints that he was the "Damocles" source all along.

Epilogue

Three months after the formal cessation of hostilities, the security situation in Russia worsens for the American occupation forces as anarchist protests erupt in major cities, sparked by winter food shortages.

In Los Angeles, Chandler says goodbye to his wife and child as his two-week leave of absence comes to an end and returns to Europe to take command of his armored task force.