This Cold War espionage thriller follows the story of British anti-hero spy Charlie Muffin (Hemmings), who has fallen on hard times since the forced retirement of Sir Archibald Willoughby, his previous boss at the U.K. secret service (Sir Ralph Richardson). His new boss, Sir Henry Cuthbertson (Ian Richardson), who epitomises the haughty upper class British imperialist, hardly attempts to conceal his disdain for the under-educated agent who quite obviously does not stem from the "right class". At the start of the film, it is established that Charlie has been deemed expendable and accordingly gets set up to be caught or killed during a joint mission in East Germany—despite having been responsible for the mission's success. Cuthbertson's lap-dog agents Snare and Harrison—both totally lacking in experience and as arrogant as their boss—are shocked and embarrassed to see Muffin returning alive and well.