The novel explores what might have happened had Joseph Stalin been raised in the United States, postulating his parents having emigrated a few months before his birth, instead of remaining in the Russian Empire. It depicts Stalin (in this history, taking the name Joe Steele) growing up to be an American politician, rising to the presidency and retaining it by ruthless methods through the Great Depression, World War II, and the early Cold War. The president is depicted as having the soul of a tyrant, with Stalin's real-world career mirrored by actions taken by Steele.
During the 1932 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Illinois, the party had decided on two front runners: California Congressman Joe Steele, and; incumbent Governor of New York Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, after two days of votes, neither candidate has the needed two-thirds majority, although Roosevelt had a slight edge. Realizing he might lose after another day of voting, Steele directed one of his aides Vince "The Hammer" Scriabin to have Roosevelt burned alive at the New York State Executive Mansion in Albany. Steele's other assistants Lazar Kagan and Stas Mikoian were not privy to the initial planning. However, Charlie Sullivan, by happenstance, overheard Scriabin on the phone giving the order for the arson. Steele never knew this. However, in light of Sullivan's "fairness" in his reporting, Steele personally met with Sullivan and promised that Sullivan would always have access to Steele's camp.
When the New York State Executive Mansion is set ablaze, Roosevelt is burned alive in the fire since he could not escape in time due to him being rendered immobile by polio. His wife Eleanor and several members of the mansion staff are also killed in the fire. The Roosevelts are then buried in Hyde Park, New York following their deaths.
With Roosevelt dead, the Democratic Party has little choice but to nominate Steele as their candidate for the 1932 Presidential election with John Nance Garner of Texas as his running mate, with whom Steele had reached an early arrangement. Steele would go on to defeat Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover in a landslide and become the 32nd President of the United States.
Rather than Roosevelt's New Deal plan, Steele implements the Four-Year Plan, in lieu of Stalin's Five-Year Plan, which entails massive infrastructure projects, nationalizing the banks and the formation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, as in the actual timeline,
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