In 1978, David Raybourne, Andrew McCarthy, an American novelist who lives in Rome and works as a journalist for a small English-language newspaper, finds his personal and professional life entwined with politics. He is romantically involved with Lia, Valeria Golino the estranged wife of an Italian industrialist, and he is befriended by Italo Bianchi, John Pankow, a politically left-leaning lecturer at a Rome university.
The backdrop is a politically charged atmosphere and student unrest, as the Red Brigades carry out a spate of violent attacks that rocked northern Italy in the 1970s, culminating in the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, Aldo Mengolini the former Italian Prime Minister. Raybourne hopes to weave these real tensions into his writing, using his research to craft a commercial novel that could both entertain and expose the era’s volatile undercurrents.
As part of a plan to write this novel and raise money to marry and support Lia in the style to which she is accustomed, Raybourne studies the activities and organization of the Red Brigades. He writes the draft of a novel, realistic but fictitious, with a plot centered on the kidnapping of a central political figure by the Red Brigades. During this time Raybourne meets a beautiful and sexually provocative young photojournalist, Alison King, Sharon Stone. She is eager for a news story and is introduced by Raybourne to Bianchi, who harbors a surprising double life.
Alison grows convinced that Raybourne's draft contains more truth than fiction, and after a sexual dalliance she searches his apartment and finds the manuscript. She then brings it to the attention of Bianchi, who, despite his mild demeanor and seemingly moderate politics, is actually collaborating with the Red Brigades. He delivers the draft to a Red Brigades contact, and the similarity between his fictitious plot and their real kidnapping plans leads them to conclude that their plans have been leaked, placing Raybourne squarely in their sights.
Raybourne realizes he is being hunted when the Brigades shoot his boss, Pierre Bernier, dead at the newspaper office, moments before Raybourne arrives. He then attempts to escape with Alison with the aid of Lia, hoping to uncover who betrayed their secrets and to survive the escalating danger.
It turns out that Lia is even more deeply involved with the Red Brigades than Bianchi, and after a high-tension chase Raybourne and Alison are captured. They are held as the Red Brigades execute the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, the pivotal event around which the novel’s premise centers. After the operation is completed, the Brigades’ leadership accuses Lia of leaking information and shoots her for her apparent betrayal right before Raybourne's and Alison's eyes.
They force Alison to photograph the body and instruct Raybourne to publish the story as a warning to any future traitors. Raybourne is later interviewed on American television about the now non-fiction book detailing his contact with the Red Brigades, with a postscript noting that Moro was found shot to death in the trunk of a car nearly two months after his kidnapping.
