Plot
In a house near the Pentagon, Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell of the Office of Naval Intelligence is under interrogation, asked how he came to meet Secretary of Defense David Brice.
Six months earlier, Farrell is invited to an inaugural ball by his college friend Scott Pritchard, who glowingly introduces his boss, Secretary Brice. Farrell meets Susan Atwell, and they spend a night of passion just before he ships out for the Philippines. Brice recalls Farrell to manage interactions with the CIA. Returning to Washington, D.C. for the assignment, Farrell reunites with his old landlord, and his friend Sam Hesselman, who manages the Pentagon's computer center.
Farrell and Atwell become lovers and spend time together, even after she reveals she is also Brice's mistress, which both Farrell and Pritchard disapprove. Upon returning from a romantic weekend away, Brice unexpectedly visits Atwell's apartment, forcing Farrell to slip away reluctantly. Furious that Atwell has another lover, Brice strikes her, causing her to fall over an upstairs railing to her death. Distraught, he goes to Pritchard, who then ruthlessly removes evidence of Brice from Atwell's apartment, including an indiscernible negative of a Polaroid photograph she had taken of Farrell.
Pritchard schemes that they could conflate Atwell's lover with a long-rumored KGB sleeper agent code-named Yuri - invoking "Yuri" puts the entire department's focus on finding Atwell's lover, who would then be killed before the investigation reached Brice's involvement with Atwell. After confirming Atwell never photographed Brice, he plants the Polaroid negative with the other evidence collected from her apartment. Shocked to learn of Atwell's death, Farrell realizes that the evidence implicates himself. His position becomes more endangered when Pritchard informs him of their plot to kill Atwell's lover. The CIA are puzzled by the resources allocated to the investigation and conclude that Pritchard being homosexual could not be Atwell's lover.
Hesselman commences a computer image enhancement of the weak photograph, a process that can take days. Army CID Officers turn in to Farrell a Moroccan jewel box that Brice had gifted Atwell. Farrell requests Hesselman to search the State Department's computers for Brice's declaration of receipt of the foreign gift. Pritchard and Farrell question Atwell's friend Nina, who reveals she knew Brice was seeing Atwell, but keeps Farrell's involvement secret. Pritchard sends two assassins to eliminate her, but Farrell chases them and saves her.
As the computer slowly reveals features in the photograph, Farrell confides in Hesselman that he is the person in the photo, and that he was in love with Atwell. He convinces him to delay the image enhancement to buy time. The CID bring in two witnesses who can identify Atwell's lover; one of them spots Farrell across the hall, confirming to the investigators that "Yuri" is inside the Pentagon, and they commence a room-by-room search, which Farrell narrowly eludes by climbing into a ceiling vent in his office. Under pressure to clear himself, Farrell informs Hesselman of Brice's guilt and his incriminating gift to Atwell, and desperately persuades him to insert into the computer registry, a fake declaration of receipt of the Moroccan jewel box. Concerned at Farrell's behavior, Hesselman consults Pritchard in private, who shoots him dead.
Farrell evades Pritchard's assassins, and confronts Brice with a printout of the foreign gift registry. Pritchard implicates Farrell for the two murders and pulls a gun on him. Comprehending that Pritchard really killed Hesselman, Brice comes to his senses and separates them. He suggests Pritchard take the fall for Atwell's murder with the motive being Pritchard's infatuation with Brice and jealousy of his time spent with her. Pritchard is devastated at Brice's betrayal, his callous revelation of his insecurities, and his change of allegiance to Farrell. He shoots himself and Brice indicates to the investigators that Pritchard is Yuri, concluding the search. Farrell sends the printout to the Director of the CIA, and leaves as the finished photograph reveals him as Atwell's lover.
Sitting at Atwell's grave, Farrell is picked up by a pair of operatives and interrogated at the house. His landlord is revealed to be his handler – all of them are Soviet agents, and Farrell turns out to in fact be "Yuri", a deep-cover spy serving as a high-level mole. He is offered a chance to return to the Soviet Union, but he declines and leaves.
