Jack Gance

Jack Gance begins his career as a young pollster and works his way up the ranks of Washington politics, becoming a shrewd insider before he wins a seat in the U.S. Senate. The climb is not tidy. He has to pay the price that the trade demands, and the process proves to be a grubby enterprise.

His private life runs on the same misplaced appetites. Gance squanders his affections on women who are already married, but over time he comes to understand where his real devotion belongs. Washington, he discovers, welcomes newcomers who arrive with little more than ambition and offers them enormous rewards, asking only for their loyalty in return.