It is the year 2000, and Marian Bradley is suddenly, shockingly, a widow and childless. Mohamed Arazi, a young student from Morocco, has planned and executed a suicide bombing that killed Marian’s husband Bill and her twenty-two year old son Rob. With no one to blame or punish, Marian has to find her way to an acceptable vengeance for the murder of her family. She also has to create a new life for herself.
On the other side of the world, Rashid bin Hashim al Riyadh and his brother, Dhakir, will coordinate an attack in Oklahoma City with the planned attack on New York, and other cities in the fall of 2001. Marian, a licensed realtor, unknowingly assists their Oklahoma contact, Dr. Kamal Hani, in purchasing an old farmhouse outside of the city for their base of operations. Mohamed’s rash and murderous actions, however, have created problems for the brothers.
Marian’s transformation from grieving widow to avenger collides with Rashid’s efforts to complete his mission while overcoming his growing horror at the devastation his bombs unleash. Marian and Rashid each have to decide if they can kill, Marian for the first time, Rashid as a final act in a life defined by destruction.