Bradford Lehman is only eighteen when he is handpicked by U.S. government intelligence to spearhead an incredibly dangerous mission on the unforgiving terrain of Washington's Mt. Rainier. It is suspected that Soviet military agents are prepared to position a portable nuclear bomb on top of the mountain in a statement of Cold War dominance. As a guide for the Rainier Guide Service, Lehman is a perfect candidate to lead a team of four in search of the hidden weapon. If detonated, the bomb-deadly enough in itself to cause untold death and disaster-could trigger an eruption of the active volcano, which would wipe out much of the urban population and infrastructure of the American Northwest. With the flashpoint for full-scale nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union imminent, Lehman and his team must neutralize the deadly threat.