When Marine Lieutenant Michael Neill is ordered to the former Soviet Union, his assignment is to verify nuclear disarmament. But before his mission begins, an American reconnaissance plane is attacked by a Russian fighter, and a Navy pilot is killed. After the incident, Neill's mission changes.

Willis Avery, the President's National Security Advisor, wants Lieutenant Neill to investigate Russian stealth technology, in addition to his original assignment. Photographic evidence - and the lack of radar images of the attacking aircraft - lead the American intelligence community to conclude that something new has been developed in the skies over Russia. Avery believes that Neill's friendship with a high-ranking officer in the Ukrainian Air Force is the key to establishing Red Sky at Morning - the existence of new aviation technology that could upset the balance of power between East and West.

However, ultra-nationalist forces are at work. After arriving in Eastern Europe, Neill quickly uncovers a conspiracy of terrorism secretly instigated by the Kremlin. Government leaders in Moscow will stop at nothing to rebuild the Soviet Union as they try to force the breakaway republics back into the fold. Neill discovers that the terrorism has extended to the weapons facility he is charged with inspecting. Communist agents have gone far beyond their original orders, and it's a race against time as the Marine - with the help of a beautiful Ukrainian journalist - tries to stop them - and come up with a plan to bring down the corrupt government officials in Moscow.