When CIA operative Miles Kendig deliberately lets KGB agent Yaskov get away, his boss threatens to retire him. Kendig beats him to it, however, destroying his own records and traveling to Austria where he begins work on a memoir that will expose all his former agency's covert practices. The CIA catches wind of the book and sends other agents after him, initiating a frenetic game of cat and mouse that spans the globe.
International terrorists attempt to kidnap a wealthy couple's child. Their plan comes unstuck, however, when a deadly Black Mamba, sent by mistake instead of a harmless snake, escapes and terrorizes both them and their hostages.
The story covers eighty years in the lives of a pair of Welsh identical twins with an unusual bond, as they go through war, love affairs, and land disputes.
