This is the novel-ized retelling of the story of the Dreyfus Affair of the 1890's in Paris. The story is told from the point of view of Georges Picquart. Picquart was a career military man and expert in geography and its application to the military. He had recently been promoted as head of the counterespionage agency and participated in the original conviction of Dreyfus.
He then becomes the "whistleblower" and his evidence leads to the exoneration of Dreyfus and both Picquart's and Dreyfus' reinstatement to the military. Picquart subsequently became Minister of War.
