Suffering from writer's block, Michael Schatten books himself into a remote beachside cabin to find inspiration. Exploring the nearby town, he stumbles upon an antique shop, purchases a quaint typewriter, and begins to type a short story. On a walk on the beach the next day, he stumbles upon a dilapidated house just like the one he described in his story. And at lunch in a diner he overhears other patrons talk, using the very lines he composed the night before. What is going on? Has he entered the twilight zone? Gone mad? Or purchased a magic typewriter? Soon he realizes that his typewriter is a secret Cold War weapon and connects to a powerful computer capable of converting fiction to reality. Trouble is, there are others. Schatten must pit his writing skills against those of an acclaimed Russian author bent on subjugating the world, and he has only seven days to foil the plot.