In 1965, Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), a US physicist and aerospace engineering, is traveling to a conference in Copenhagen with his assistant and fiancée, Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews). Armstrong receives a Radiogram (message) to pick up a book in Copenhagen; it contains a message which says, "Contact in case of emergency." He tells Sherman he is going to Stockholm, but she discovers he is flying to East Berlin and follows him. When they land, he is welcomed by representatives of the East Germany government. Sherman realizes that Armstrong has defector, and is appalled that, given the circumstances of the Cold War, if she stays with him, she will likely never see her home or family again.