Sir Crispin Whipple is the newly appointed UK Ambassador to the Western Allied Military Pact Organisation (WAMPO) in the early seventies, and in his first year he experiences the embarrassment of two espionage incidents traced to the UK Delegation. MI5 are called in to investigate and, having several other unsolved espionage incidents on their books, they are anxious to nail a British spy ring. Sir Crispin is also unprepared for the mutual distrust and bickering that goes on between the WAMPO member states, who pursue their own political agendas. The story is set against the background of the Cold War, the US President's re-election, the Icelandic Fisheries war, WAMP military facilities on Malta, Russian spies and secret Exercises. WAMPO's response to world events contrasts with the more serious problem of their headquarters building which is falling down owing to wrongly mixed cement.