The bespectacled spymaster is once more called from retirement to come to the aid of the 'Circus'--and he returns with a vengeance. The murder of an emigre Soviet General who was also a British agent, sends him digging into the past on a twisted trail across Europe that moves, inexorably, towards a final showdown with his old adversary, Karla of Moscow Centre.

George Smiley goes to the aid of his former colleague, Ailsa Brimley after she receives a letter from a woman predicting her own murder and naming her husband as the killer. After the woman is found dead, they uncover secret societies, sexual abuse, and a mysterious boy.