In Qandahar, the destinies of the first woman President of the United States and a jihadist commander from Afghanistan intersect on one day in late March 2009. Abu Mahmoud Rahman has waited decades to take vengeance on the country where he grew up - America. He devises a meticulous plan to crush the United States economically by destroying the world's two largest oil and natural gas facilities, one in Saudi Arabia and the other near Houston, Texas. U.S. Vice President Lorraine Valerie Forster, an acclaimed historian and former college president, becomes the U.S. President on March 4, 2009, the day President Richard Templeton dies after suffering a massive stroke. Forster wants to pursue Templeton's goal to bring home from Iraq and Afghanistan all U.S. military forces as some Congressional leaders attempt to stymie her presidency.