Following the events of ''Page Eight'', ex-MI5 officer Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) is in hiding on the Turks and Caicos Islands. A seemingly chance encounter with Curtis Pelissier (Christopher Walken) leads Johnny to a dinner with several shady American businessmen who comprise a company called Gladstone. The following morning, one of the businessmen is found dead on the beach in suspicious circumstances; Melanie Fall (Winona Ryder), a Gladstone liaison, seems to know more than she lets on. When Pelissier reveals himself to be a Central Intelligence Agency Covert operation who knows Johnny's true identity, Johnny desperately cuts a deal: he will help Pelissier with the investigation of Gladstone in exchange for his silence about his location.

Following their flight from Turks and Caicos, Johnny Worricker and Margot Tyrell hopscotch around Europe to evade capture by MI5. After spotting one of his former recruits, disguised as a passing jogger, Johnny relocates once again and instructs former colleague Rollo Maverley to leak news of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Alec Beasley's corrupt dealings with Stirling Rogers and his Bridge Foundation. Margot secretly keeps in touch with Johnny's pregnant daughter Julianne. In London, Acting Director General of MI5 Jill Tankard contacts Deputy Prime Minister Anthea Catcheside and offers her services in aiding Catcheside's embattled husband.