The Silicon War is a fictional story that depicts the theft and illegal export of sensitive US electronic equipment and the federal government's efforts to track down the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The story takes place in two principal locations: Silicon Valley, California, and the USSR. The story in Silicon Valley tells the activities of the perpetrators of the crimes and of authorities in their efforts to find them. It also explores the impact of these crimes on the innocent family members of the criminals. The story in the USSR tells the activities of US agents in an effort to close the channels used to obtain sensitive US equipment. It also tells the story of innocent Soviet bureaucrats caught up in events not under their own control. The story begins with the discovery in the US that equipment is being funneled to the Soviet Union and the near-simultaneous discovery in the USSR that the US has electronic surveillance capabilities far in excess of past assumptions. Each of these discoveries triggers a series of activities that lead the main characters on both continents through a complex and dangerous series of events, bringing both sides together in a surprising manner.

The ultimate outcome of the events portrayed in the lives of the characters concludes the story. The story includes a frantic chase across the Soviet Union in which CIA agents try to save the lives of two Soviet bureaucrats by getting them out of the Soviet Union and into Finland.