Just before the US president is about to visit China, a CIA agent Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) is captured by the Chinese and is charged with espionage. He would be shot dead unless there is sufficient diplomatic pressure from the US. The price the US may have to pay in the form of bilateral relationship and trade would be very high. So high that CIA top brass decides to disown Tom. Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) is the person who had trained Bishop for the CIA and turned him into a good spy. Nathan learns about the incident on the day of his retirement. He recalls the time he spent with Bishop and decides to try his best to get him out of the situation. He tries to mount a lot of psychological pressure on the CIA, but will he succeed?