The villain is a classic spy caricature: cold-war CIA super-patriot Robert Thornhill wants to reclaim the glory days of the Central Intelligence Agency--when money flowed like the Mississippi during a flood, and the FBI watched helplessly from the sidelines. Working from his secret underground bunker, he blackmails Danny Buchanan, one of the great Washington lobbyists, to front an enormous bribery scheme that will force Congress to bend to the CIA's whims. But Thornhill's plan springs a leak: Buchanan's assistant Faith Lockhart discovers her boss's dirty dealings, and she intends to expose the whole mess to Thornhill's nemesis, the FBI.