1967. Beirut-based British journalist Leo Cauffield and his American former art consultant wife Sally Cauffield have been married for four years, the passion which they have always had for each other an element missing from both their previous marriages. Leo was once the head of counterintelligence at MI6, an organization from which he was asked to resign solely for he being among a bunch of Cambridge recruits, some who were discovered to be Soviet spies, those few who are now known to be living in Moscow. Because his name was eventually cleared and because his best friend Andrew Darcy still works at MI6, Leo had been asked to rejoin the organization, an offer he has yet to accept. After heading off to work one morning, Leo goes missing. A frantic Sally eventually does get some handwritten letters from Leo stating that he is all right and that he will eventually explain everything in time. After looking into the matter, MI6 informs Sally that they believe Leo has voluntarily defected to the Soviet Union, the implication being that he is indeed a Soviet spy. Sally has to decide if she will travel to Moscow to look for Leo, a move which may place her own safety, security and freedom at risk, and if she is able to speak to him and if the accusations are true, whether she will join him in his western world-banished life. Also factoring into the equation is the well-being of her own teenaged daughter, Jen Tyler, and Leo's two teenaged children, Lucy and Oliver Cauffield, the three who had been living with them in Beirut.
—Huggo