How far-reaching is the strange power of a secret society almost 700 years old, and how is it linked to the mysterious Station Nine? And what is the significance of a series of paintings that drove a man to suicide?

From thirteenth-century England to the former Soviet Union, from the United Stated to the cold wastes of space, the various strands of a complex plan come together and threaten to engulf the world in a nightmare of nuclear destruction.

This novel is another in the series of adventures featuring the Eighth Doctor and Sam.