On a dark road deep inside Russia, a young American tourist picks up a most unusual passenger with an incredible secret. Poised against America is a vast and astounding KGB enterprise known as "Mrs. Ivanova's Charm School." It's aim: with the forced co-operation of kidnapped American citizens and U.S. POWs, to train Russian agents to be indistinguishable from ordinary Americans, so that they can slip into the United States undetected. Arrayed against the all-encompassing grip of the Soviets are three Americans: Sam Hollis, an Air Force officer, Lisa Rhodes, an embassy liaison, and Seth Alevy, the chief of the CIA's Moscow station.