Three people are quietly involved in a conspiracy in 1941 to keep America out of a war in the Pacific with Japan.

They refer to themselves as "pirates." They are plagued by one intractable question: is war inevitable in the Far East? If unable to forestall a conflict, they are determined to create an intellectual life raft for the post-war survivors to avoid a final disaster in the looming nuclear age.

Though they cannot undo past events, they are determined to reset the human compass with sharp-edged idealism to save humanity from its inclination to engage in war.