New Mexico 2003. In the remote mountain village of Cloudcroft, the 20 richest men in America gather at the heavily guarded home of Calvin Wallenberg for their annual summer retreat. Guests include people like George Shapira, who has driven entire Asian economies into ruin through currency speculation, and eccentrics like Massinger, who arrives in a worn-out combat jet. On the agenda: cavorting, and the selection of the next president of the United States.
Elsewhere, Eve, a Gulf War veteran and chef has lost everything and is a woman on the edge. Bob Clarenco is the head of a security company that was worth billions before the stock market crash and feels impoverished with the mere $20 million he has left.
Soon Eve is recruited by Clarenco to help him and a highly skilled team that includes ex-veterans and ex-policemen to stage their own coup involving the drugging and kidnapping of the richest men in the world. Eve gains entrance to the exclusive gathering with her catering equipment, but it's not only culinary delights that she and her crew have prepared. As the billionaires fall under the influence of stealthily administered drugs, they are forced to reveal their plans for personal secrets. But to what end?
With the kidnappers in control of Cloudcroft, they create a successful diversionary tactic, initially making political demands such as debt relief for the Third World. But with the 'engine room of capitalism' in the hands of a group of criminals, the stock markets around the world going red hot, and the billion-dollar ransom demands appearing, the world holds its breath and wonders: do the hostage takers just want money or the keys to world power?
