The Vertical Hour is about Nadia Blye, a woman who knows exactly what her stance is on Iraq. A former war reporter and Professor of International Relations at Yale University, she has advised the President and seen action in Sarajevo and Baghdad. She is sure of her place in the world and her opinion of it. Until, that is, she meets an equally opinionated and lethally charming man – her boyfriend’s father. His intervention has far-reaching consequences for them all.