U.S. Ambassador to Israel Peter Hacker [Robert Mitchum] and head of security Frank Stevenson [Rock Hudson] are en route to a secret location in the Judaean Desert to meet with representatives of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). It is part of Hacker's bold, private plan to spark a dialogue between young Jews and Muslims. An armed Israeli helicopter locates and disrupts the meeting by firing on it, causing several deaths. Hacker and Stevenson survive and are promptly apprehended by the Israeli military.
Back in Jerusalem, Alex Hacker [Ellen Burstyn], the ambassador’s troubled and lonely wife, is secretly meeting her lover. Their tryst is captured on film by an unseen observer, setting off a chain of dangerous misunderstandings and covert surveillance that will ripple through the diplomatic world.
Hacker and Stevenson are hauled into the office of Israeli Defense Minister Eretz [Donald Pleasence], who bluntly confronts them for not informing him about the meeting and reiterates his opposition to Hacker’s peace initiative. Returning to the American embassy, Stevenson reaches out to a secret superior, expressing concern and a desire to see Hacker’s assignment terminated.
That same night, at a diplomatic function, Alex is visibly intoxicated and disruptive. She slips away in a taxi to see her lover again, and while she phones from a booth in front of Hacker’s apartment, an explosion rips through the area, injuring Alex and taking several lives. Hacker and Stevenson rush back to the ambassador’s residence, unaware of Alex’s exact whereabouts. A mysterious caller instructs Hacker to meet alone at a movie theater, and when he arrives, he steps into the damaged building where the film of his wife’s infidelity plays on a screen; Stevenson soon follows and absorbs the unsettling spectacle with him.
Hacker is later told that Alex is safe and recovering in a hospital, and she confides that she wants to leave Israel. Back in his office, Hacker is contacted again with an ominous hush-money demand: if one million dollars isn’t paid, a private copy of the incriminating film will be released to the President of the United States. Hacker refuses, and the blackmailers’ mention of Alex’s lover pushes him to press Stevenson to investigate further.
Alex’s lover turns out to be Mustapha Hashimi [Fabio Testi], a wealthy businessman and a PLO member. Minister Eretz is informed of the situation and learns that the illicit film was created by Mossad agents to keep tabs on the Hackers, though some prints have since fallen into other hands. Stevenson tracks the print shop, discovering clues about the blackmailers. After a confrontation, he’s knocked out, but a shop worker reveals the identities behind the scheme and offers protection.
Hashimi, pressed by the blackmailers, agrees to pay half a million dollars. Seeing a way to leverage Hashimi’s influence within the PLO, Hacker arranges a plan to use this influence to foster a peaceful meeting between Jewish and Muslim students. Meanwhile, the print shop woman helps Stevenson identify the masterminds behind the blackmail before he’s forced to escape another trap.
With the pieces coming together, Hacker leads a crucial meeting between Israeli and Palestinian students at an ancient Roman ruin outside Tel Aviv. The gathering yields real progress and cautious optimism as the two sides begin to understand one another. But the moment of fragile hope is shattered when Palestinian terrorists ambush the crowd, and Hashimi is assassinated. Israeli authorities, along with Alex and Stevenson, arrive to find Hacker alive, while a looming threat—an elusive KGB assassin known as Stone—awaits in the shadows.
In a tense pursuit, Stevenson corners Stone and shoots him in the back of the head, saving Hacker from a clean, deadly shot. Back at the residence, Hacker contemplates resigning, but Alex argues for him staying on, believing the work is worth it. As night falls, Hacker steps outside onto his porch and is met by a procession of young Israeli students holding a peaceful rally, their presence and voices bringing him to tears and leaving him hopeful about the possibility of a future where dialogue and understanding prevail.
