Three men conspire to make a false accusation that they had been assaulted as boys in a London Comprehensive twenty years earlier. They hope to get compensation. They name a teacher at random and, despite a total lack of evidence, the man is questioned by the police and later charged. To escape harassment by the Press while awaiting trial, Alec goes to stay with friends in a remote fishing-port in Scotland. While there, he meets a young Russian woman who is also a fugitive: she has been living for months on Russian ship to escape the agents of the KGB who are trying to kill her. Alec helps her to evade her pursuers. They fall in love, but Sophie has to sail away in a day or two and Alec has to return to London to face trial for a crime he did not commit. The future seems hopeless for both but, after many twists and turns, they manage to outwit their enemies and to make a happier life together.