The electoral campaign of a Southern governor for the presidency of the United States. Narrated by a half-black campaign staffer, the novel follows the governor--ably assisted by his dynamic wife, a lawyer--as he mixes calculation with sincerity, dodges a draft-controversy bullet, gorges on barbecues, poaches off others' plates, seduces the occasional innocent bystander and confronts the resulting sex scandals.
All eyes are focused on the Vatican, hoping to see the puffs of white smoke signaling the selection of the next Pope, but this time, much more is at stake, for the new pontiff may be the only person who can bring peace to a world on the brink of nuclear war.