Louis Morgon is a former CIA Liaison.
From the time he was in college doing post-graduate work and writing his dissertation, Morgon was a man who was watched carefully for the incredibly insightful clarity he brought to global events. His professors lauded his analysis and many people in government began to pay attention as well. He was decidedly a man with a future.
When he finally left the Ivy League university for the real world, he was snatched up by the State Department and within a couple of fast paced years was was writing opinion papers that people at the very top took seriously. One of the people paying the most attention and bringing attention of others to Morgon was the rising star at State, Hugh Bowes.
As many of the predictions that Morgon made based on analysis and study came to pass, Bowes, who had taken Morgon's ideas and passed them along, rose with the same waters that were rising Morgon but he did not take credit himself as many others in Washington might have. He was content to let Morgon shine, knowing that the glow would also illuminate Bowes.
After a while Morgon was asked to become State's liaison with the CIA, an agency in need, or so thought State, of the clarity of purpose that Morgon would bring.
With his career in overdrive, his marriage began to suffer but rather than give up on it they chose to have a child in the hopes of salvaging the relationship. A daughter was born followed soon by a son but though the marriage lasted for many more years, the relationship was gone. Morgon had his work and that dominated his life.
Then it all came to a crashing end when a regime change here and a power struggle there made a couple of Morgon's conclusions wrong and suddenly the fair-haired boy of State was being summarily discharged, abandoned, and villified. Bowes turned against him faster than a revolving door and his life in the government was over. The shock of the change, and the severity of it which was hardly justified stunned Morgon.
After a couple years teaching and trying to get on with his life, with his marriage now at the end, Morgon needed just one more straw. That came when he found his wife in bed with his former backer, Bowes.
Morgon packed a bag and headed to Europe. He chose France and, after hiking and thumbing and touring at random, he chose a small village in the south central part of the country and started a new life. He had virtually nothing to do with his previous world. He lived frugally and simply and forgot the past.
As the series begins, 30 years have passed. Morgon is in his early 60s and is content in life. He has a good friend in the police chief of the small community. He has engaged in a quiet affair with the lady next door. He paints and does moderately well at it. He is happy.
Then for reasons he does not understand and finds it hard to believe, the world of politics and governmental intrigue which he had been evicted from three decades before come rushing back into his tranquil life and he must fight for survival and that of those he loves.