Victor Godeanu, the right-hand man and closest adviser to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu during the Cold War, is also a secret agent for the KGB and must escape Romania and Ceaușescu before his cover is blown. With only one shot at staying alive, he uses a diplomatic trip to Germany as a springboard to the United States. Helped by an undercover Stasi agent and former flame, and an up-and-coming CIA agent, Godeanu must elude the KGB and his own country's spooks, fully aware that his defection is putting his family back home in mortal danger.