This thriller follows the life of a genius African-American student, Brad, matriculating at MIT in the 1950?s. At MIT, the curse of his genius drags him into a governmental PR stunt to launch a nuclear missile at the moon in response to the Sputnik satellites ominously orbiting the Earth. When the Russians learn of the plan, his life is put in peril while a larger conspiracy emerges when his professor’s husband learns of their torrid affair.