A masterly tale of political deception from the most significant writer of SF in the 20th century World War III is raging - or so the millions of people crammed in their underground tanks believe. For fifteen years, subterranean humanity has been fed on daily broadcasts of a never-ending nuclear destruction, sustained by a belief in the all-powerful Protector. Now someone has gone to the surface and found no destruction, no war.

The authorities have been telling a massive lie. Now the search begins to find out why.