Spy vs. spy. Three Yale grads, class of 1954, join their respective countries' secret service. We follow them for 40 years - through the outing of a British spy, the Hungarian revolution, the Bay of Pigs, the scent of moles, and the collapse of the USSR. Fictional characters - Yalies Jack McCauliffe, Leo Kritzky, and Yevgeny Tsipin and Jack's boss Harvey Torriti - rub shoulders with real figures like Kim Philby and James Angleton to tell stories of romance, intrigue, double-crosses, false leads, suicide, execution, and exile - in the name of ideology, patriotism, paranoia, perfidy, and one-upsmanship. Can the CIA claim any credit in the West's Cold War triumph?

Anachronisms: At least one of the cans tied to the bumper of the car in the 1950's wedding scene was a two-piece late 20th C. food can (no side or bottom seams) which were not used commercially until the 1980's.