Overview

In this exciting spy thriller adapted from the best selling novel, a viable candidate for the German presidency emerges after World War II whose campaign pledge is the re unification of Germany. Count Axel Wintergrin, a hero who fought against the Nazis in the Norwegian underground, is moving up in the polls. The KGB and the CIA fear that if Wintergrin is elected, Stalin will invade Germany. CIA operative Blackford Oakes is assigned to keep an eye on the Wintergrin camp, posing as an architect overseeing the restoration of the war damaged medieval chapel on Wintergrin's estate. He becomes involved with Erika Chadinoff, a KGB agent posing as a secretary to keep tabs on both Wintergrin and Oakes. When it becomes clear in both Moscow and Washington that Wintergrin will defeat Adenauer and that he probably has three missing American atomic bombs it is decided that he must be assassinated. Cards are drawn and Oakes who is now a close personal friend of Wintergrin gets the assignment.