In the middle of the night, Mayor Jordanna Gray receives an alarming call from the police. Flames have suddenly engulfed a section of Amber Rose, a small community in California. Nearly a hundred people are dead. The obvious cause is the huge explosion of a natural gas pipeline owned by the AmSac Pipeline Company.

Headed by Dr. John Foster, an AmSac investigative team arrives to find out why the pipes ruptured. A prominent California Senator broadcasts his criticism of AmSac to the nation, seeking federal review of the company's maintenance records. The political fallout causes problems for John. He discovers that the pipeline maintenance hasn't been conducted for years and that prior inspection reports show that the pipe was most likely corroded. This knowledge makes him a dangerous and unpredictable source of trouble for the company.

The complex scientific investigation takes on unexpected dimensions when John and Jordanna are almost murdered. Suspicions abound as to why someone wants them dead. Is it that John and Jordanna know too much? Their lives suddenly depend on finding out who is responsible for a decades-long conspiracy-even if it brings down one of the most influential and powerful elements in the nation.