Left-of-centre Labour Prime Minister Jack Higson has enjoyed a spectacular rise from backbencher to the highest political office in the land in just a few short years. He is popular, well-liked and supported by a loving wife. But when a prominent Spanish lawyer In Madrid asks to see the British Ambassador, and tells him a story about Higson's grandfather's time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, Higson's world begins to unravel.

And when that story becomes linked to a skeleton in his personal life of which his wife knows nothing, Higson is suddenly faced with an existential threat to both his political career and his marriage. Over a period of just a few weeks he must make the most momentous decisions of his life. Can he be saved? Or is he the only one who can save himself?