Most of the plot takes place on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where former British Prime Minister Adam Lang has been holed up in the holiday home of his billionaire American publisher to turn out his memoirs on a deadline.

His girlfriend walks out on him over his willingness to take the job: "She felt personally betrayed by him; she used to be a party member", reflecting a wider dissatisfaction over Lang's policies, particularly pertaining to the War on Terror.

A leaked memorandum has revealed that he secretly approved the capture and the extraordinary rendition of British citizens to Guantanamo Bay to face interrogation and torture, one of whom died.

Confronted by the narrator, Lang claims ignorance of the CIA connection, but is blown up by a British suicide bomber vengeful for Britain's participation in the Iraq War.

[5] The New York Observer commented that the book's "shock-horror revelation" is "so shocking it simply can't be true, though if it were it would certainly explain pretty much everything about the recent history of Great Britain".

[6] Harris said in a NPR interview that politicians like Lang and Blair, particularly when they have been in office a long time, become divorced from everyday reality, read little and end up with a limited outlook.

Filming was delayed and a year later it was announced that Ewan McGregor would play the ghost instead of Cage and Olivia Williams would take over the role of Ruth Lang.

The film was a French-German-British joint production, with Babelsberg Studios near Berlin having a central role and most scenes, especially those from Martha's Vineyard, were shot in Germany.