For four years in the White House and one year of campaigning before that, George Stephanopoulos was rarely more than a few steps from Bill Clinton. As the president's senior adviser, he saw it all - the endless arguments, the back-hall scheming, the protracted decisions, and the last-minute flip-flops that somehow produced real accomplishments but also set in motion an almost tragic series of events that placed the fate of the president in the hands of the Senate.

When Stephanopoulos first met Bill Clinton in September of 1991, he was thirty years old, and like so many others before and since, he was dazzled by the brilliance, charisma, lofty goals, and astonishing empathy of this remarkably gifted politician. Here was the perfect star for an ambitious young man to hitch himself to, yet little did he anticipate what an amazing rollercoaster ride it would be - both for the administration and for Stephanopoulos.

Throughout the chaos and camaraderie, the breathtaking triumphs and disasters, Stephanopoulos clung to his vision of what a Clinton presidency could be, even as he began to see the hidden, dark compartments in the man that would bring him and the nation to such grief.