After a chance encounter with assassin Yassen Gregorovich, teenage spy Alex Rider investigates pop star Damian Cray, whose new video game venture hides sinister motives involving Air Force One, nuclear missiles, and the drug trade.

Alex Rider does battle with a charity broker con artist who has invested millions of dollars in a form of genetically modified corn that can release an airborne strain of virus capable of knocking out an entire country in one day.

Presented with an unexpected assignment, Alex Rider's greatest nemesis, Yassen Gregoravich, recalls his life and the path that led him to become an assassin while his one-time friend, Alex's uncle, became a spy.