Los Angeles, late 1940s: all over Hollywood, the U.S. government is ordering people to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee as part of the crusade to uncover Communist influence in the movies. John Ray Horn has little use for politics, but as a former B-movie cowboy star who fell into prison and disgrace, he knows a few things about outsiders. He agrees to help Owen Bruder, a brilliantly talented but notoriously difficult screenwriter accused of having belonged to the Communist Party. If Horn can discover Bruder's secret accuser, they might have a chance to clear his name. But no one is willing to talk. People are scared, in a Hollywood run by fear and suspicion, where a whisper is all it takes to smear an innocent man. As Horn's search leads him to powerful figures in Hollywood, his investigation takes a sudden and deadly turn. And he finds that more people will die before all the secrets are laid bare.