[1] It is a thriller, set in the then-future year of 1996 when a shadowy coalition bent on controlling the world economy attempts to manipulate a candidate for president of the United States through the use of a computer biochip brain implant.

Meanwhile, in a separate subplot, African-American Eleanor Richmond, unemployed and living in a trailer park, discovers that her husband has committed suicide in their repossessed former home.

An underground business coalition called the Network arranges for Cozzano to have a biochip implanted and for him to run for President of the United States.

After an event where she accused the citizens of Colorado of being welfare queens, she finds herself in the public eye as a candidate for Cozzano's running mate.

President-elect Cozzano is shot at his inauguration by a psychotic former factory worker who has learned of almost the entirety of the Network's plans.