Rick Collins, a young married man, participates in a virtual world populated by avatars controlled by participants at home computers all over the world. Through his avatar twin, Isaac, Rick spends all his virtual-world time with another look-alike avatar, the sexy Joan d’Arc, who inveigles him into a romance. Her unknown animator gets him a job in the real world with a huge manufacturer, and then reveals she’s a spy. She forces Rick into industrial espionage by blackmailing him with secretly-taped videos and later with threats to kill him and his family unless he keeps his job, which is insecure. Rick realizes his family is doomed unless he can identify Joan and her whereabouts soon.