China has invaded the oil-rich Spratly Islands. The American response has been swift—and deadly. And the Third World War has begun...

Captain Bartholomew Mackey is the skipper of the U.S.S. Cheyenne, a nuclear submarine that has been dispatched to the Spratlys to protect a carrier group. But in a few moments, the Cheyennes's mission—and the world—will change, as a tense situation explodes into a full-scale war of nightmarish proportions.