Paul Stearns, one of the CIA's top undercover agents, has just succeeded in smuggling an East German scientist through the Berlin Wall, when suddenly Stearns falls flat on his face-literally. Stearns plunges into a coma that lasts for three days. When the CIA learns that Stearns has Remington's Syndrome, a rare neurological disease that causes its victims to have numerous blackouts, Stearns is forced to resign. Frustrated and angry, the young agent retreats to Colchester Vermont to see if he can put his life back together. It is here that Stearns meets the striking Kathleen O'Brien, the unattached assistant professor who becomes his tennis partner and lover. When a defecting KGB Colonel informs the CIA that Kurt Dietz, one of the best trained agents in the Communist world, has been ordered to assassinate a top level U.S. leader, the CIA needs their former agent's help. Why? Because Stearns is one of only three people in the entire U.S. who has actually seen Dietz face to face. In spite of his recurring blackouts, can Stearns intercept this illusive spy before he completes his assignment?