Paul Newman is an American physicist who defects to East Germany with plans to hand over Western secrets to the communists.

What he doesn't expect is his lover, Julie Andrews, to defect with him. This proves to be problematic because Newman's real intention is not exactly what it appears.

When Newman's charade is exposed, the East German police attempt to arrest him. The couple must then flee the Soviet bloc or face possible imprisonment and/or death.

Bernard Herrmann wrote the original score but had a major disagreement with Hitchcock. The score was dropped and they never worked together again.

Newman reportedly reacted badly to direction from Hitchcock who in turn was displeased by the star's performance.

In a 1966 NY Times article, Hitchcock made a statement on how hard it was get a skilled script writer in Hollywood. The script had extensive (uncredited) rewrites by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall.