Desperate to turn the tide of growing support for Dr.K and his Work Unit currency, the secretive group, behind the worldwide media slander of him, ‘goes for broke’, in this third book in the series. Increasing support for Senator Clarke’s presidential campaign,(Dr. K’s outspoken foe), just when he needs it most, after Lou writes of shocking child-sex allegations. They even orchestrate a public spectacle of his family’s grief after a tragedy befalls them, to boost his poll numbers.

Lou, abandoned by OOG, must stand alone to fight Federal charges against him for not divulging his source for Clarke’s story. He is incarcerated in Federal prison, for refusing to give up his source. Julie learns that Miranda is the source Lou is protecting and desperately pleads with him to give her up. But Miranda employs her own ways to get Lou off the hook drawing Rosie in with her.

Behind it all, Otto, now in command of the Community, puts out a contract on Greta so her knowledge of the Community will not be revealed, especially at this time. Little does he know that she is with Dr. K. aboard the Kai Hau, someone he has been trying to have silenced for months. The Countess, Greta’s mother, is adding to his troubles, by trying to locate Greta before he does. This forces him to take matters in hand when he confronts the Countess, in her hideaway.

In spite of all his troubles, Dr. K. honors his commitment to the crew of the Kai Hau and agrees to their entering the great yacht in the Carbon-Free circumnavigation race. There he once again crosses Rasmussen’s path. The world’s richest man has entered the race too, with the sister ship to the Kai Hau. But why has it been so heavily modified? What is Rasmussen really up to?

Dr. K. finds himself having to defend his entry, in the race, under the New Zealand flag rather than the flag of his birth country, the USA, in a pre-race press conference. In response, to the persistent prodding of the press, he gives a laundry list of grievances, that most Americans know are true but few dare to say in private, let alone in front of the world press. The race, itself, turns out to be even more trouble for Dr. K. then dealing with the press.

Nature herself takes a hand in the outcome, dashing the competitor’s careful plans in a most unexpected way. The Kai Hau and her crew are tested to their limits not only by these natural events, but by a most ‘unnatural’ one from Dr. K’s persecutor — Otto. Their face off, at the bottom of the world, seals the fate of the Kai Hau and her crew and gives us a glimpse of our own.