Charlie Muffin, most devious of spies, has lived through the Cold War, outlasted the Soviet Union, circumvented the most lethal schemes of the late KGB, and survived a love affair with former KGB agent Natalia Fedova. Is it time to put him out to pasture? Director General Peter Miller, Charlie's new director, thinks so and turns Charlie into a schoolmaster, a teacher of spies.

All seems set for Charlie in his new role until his apprentice, John Gower, is sent to Beijing to extract a British agent. Gower's mission quickly becomes a failure as he is imprisoned within days of his arrival, and Miller reluctantly dispatches Charlie to rescue Gower before he reveals all in the face of certain torture.

But in espionage, the truth is elusive, dangerous, and never what you expect, and as Charlie gets more deeply involved he begins to wonder who is really pulling the strings now that the Cold War is over.