Peter Arundsen is bored—bored with his conventional wife, and bored with his conventional city job. He hankers after his dangerous past, when he was a spy with the SIS, and cherishes his contact with ex-colleagues at weekend parties hosted by their old chief, Philip Wetherby.

When one of these parties is overshadowed by news of a defection, Arundsen resists Wetherby's request to investigate. But he cannot resist Wetherby's beautiful and mysterious niece. He finds himself, against his better judgement, drawn into the investigation, and so into a tangle of treason, intrigue—and a trap from which it seems there is no escape.