Cayce Pollard, a legend in the field of market research, begins her hunt for the mysterious 'maker'of a series of video fragments that are gripping the world's imagination for Blue Ant (her new employer), she enlists the help of an odd array of characters, including a young Polish sculptor who works in primitive personal computers, an alcoholic ex-NSA guru hidden away in a rusting house-trailer in the British countryside, an attractive Chinese-American hacker-entrepreneur whose loyalty she questions, and her fellow footage-enthusiast Parkaboy, whom she’s come to know (but only, so far, virtually) on a web site devoted to discussion of 'the footage'.

When her rivalry with a fellow worker at the advertising agency takes an ominous turn, Cayce realizes that her investigation of the footage may be not only the most intellectually and emotionally demanding challenge she’s yet faced, but dangerous as well. Cayce rapidly becomes unsure of who she can trust.

Before the secrets of the footage’s maker are finally revealed, Cayce will be drugged, imprisoned, and pursued. She will also, from unexpected quarters, receive the fullest picture yet of her father’s last day in New York, in the shadow of the falling Towers.