In this international political thriller, Morgan Kenworthy, a Berkeley student studying abroad, uncovers a coup against the government of France. She is a guest of the de Carduzacs, family friends who have a chateau in St. Émilion in France. Soon after she arrives, a bombing at the Brassault Aviation plant kills several ministers. The investigation, led by General Tolbert, the head of French intelligence and friend of Joseph de Carduzac, points to jihadists. However, clues Morgan unearths about Joseph’s past suggest that the two blew up the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in 1985 and committed other nefarious acts while serving President Mitterand. Morgan overhears discussions in Joseph’s study about the bombing and other plans. After another explosion, killing most of the cabinet, Tolbert announces that he is in charge. As Tolbert suspects she knows, Alex, Joseph’s stepson and Morgan’s lover, helps her get away. The Justice Minister, Zaida Bensoussan, challenges Tolbert’s assumption of power, and Alex lets her know that Morgan has relevant information. Morgan is brought back to Paris and she tells Zaida all she knows. Bensoussan has asked France’s Constitutional Council to rule on the coup, and leaves to announce the ruling; Morgan sees Tolbert’s men kidnap her. Morgan makes her way to the US Embassy where she tells officials all. Returning to Bordeaux, Alex and Morgan learn that the Council ruled Tolbert’s act illegal and that he is being sought for questioning. At the chateau, Alex leaves, while Morgan tells the family that Tolbert is being sought; Joseph rushes off. The next day, Madame de Carduzac, worried because her husband did not come home, asks them to go look for him, while she calls the police. They find the General dead in his study and Joseph nowhere. Joseph is suspected of murder and this is confirmed when his pistol is missing. Alex tells Morgan that it was he who shot Tolbert, to revenge the murders of his real father and sister, and that he told his stepfather to leave France. Zaida is released and heads up a new government; a cabinet meeting is rocked by an explosion that destroys the Louvre. With rising violence, Zaida tries to enforce security, but is concerned about safeguarding freedoms. The President asks her to resign, and appoints Valentin Fromont, her Defense Minister to head up a government and impose martial law. Alex and Morgan marry and honeymoon in New Zealand. They visit the Rainbow Warrior memorial, where Joseph appears; Alex has tracked him down to where he now takes tourists on dives to see the Greenpeace wreck. He claims he had nothing to do with the bombings―that it was Tolbert and Fromont who were behind them and the coup d’état, as well as the deaths of Claire and Alex’s real father. As penance for his role in the Rainbow Warrior bombing, Joseph has become a Warrior of the Rainbow and is devoting his life to helping to create a new world order of love and harmony.