Elliot MacDonald, a UN negotiator, has lost the will to administer the inhuman paradoxes of smart bombs launched by humanitarian pragmatism. Unable to reconcile the goals of his missions with the outcomes, particularly in the Caribbean nation of Republic of Mandela, MacDonald retires to Toronto with his idealism fractured. To complicate matters, he’s approached to be a mediator in the divorce of two old friends, during which he meets Amy Kwong – an elusive figure in the unfolding domestic melodrama – who inspires him to play “war games” that simulate the brutalities committed in the name of love.