When a young Russian fakes his own death and defects from East Germany, his interrogators discover that his father, Otto Guttman, is a leading scientist working on Soviet missile systems. The British authorities need to persuade Otto to join his son in exchange for valuable intelligence. Johnny Donoghue appears to be the right man for the job. He enjoyed a glittering career in the British Army until he was discharged for his involvement in the shooting of a young girl in Northern Ireland. Now a teacher in a small provincial town and living with his mother, it is not difficult to convince him to accept the mission to atone for past mistakes and to escape from the infernal boredom. Donoghue can't know the dangers involved in crossing the German Border or how the fickle world of realpolitik will impinge on his task. And nothing can prepare him for the impact of the momentous decision that Otto has to make: whether to turn traitor and join the son he thought was dead, or to remain in Germany as the loyal and devoted subject they think him to be ...