Having sacked his Parliamentary Private Secretary, Urquhart casts about for a replacement. At the suggestion of Geoffrey Booza Pitt he gives serious consideration to backbench MP Claire Carlsen, despite the fact that she is carrying on an affair with Foreign Secretary Tom Makepeace. Claire is clearly playing both sides of the fence to ensure her own place in the hierarchy, regardless of what the future may hold. Urquhart decides the time has come to shake things up and forces Makepeace to resign, something his wife Elizabeth isn't sure is in their best interest. He also continues working on his legacies, dropping a good word in the ear of the British judge on the Cyprus boundary panel. Meanwhile, a young Greek-Cypriot woman, Maria Passolides, seeks Urquhart's assistance in solving the death of two uncles who were killed in Cyprus in the 1950s.

Alors que des documents confidentiels sur la guerre à Chypre dans les années 1950 sont rendus publics, Francis Urquhart accepte d’aider Maria Passolides, une jeune Chypriote qui cherche la tombe de son oncle, assassiné au cours du conflit. Il accepte aussi que Claire Carlsen devienne sa secrétaire privée, bien qu’il sache qu’elle vit une aventure avec Tom Makepeace, le ministre des Affaires étrangères, dont il veut se débarrasser. Humilié par Urquhart, Makepeace prépare sa revanche…