Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is being tortured in a prison in North Korea on suspicion of being an American spy. Her boyfriend, Arachnology Mike Krause (August Diehl), generates so much publicity about Salt's imprisonment that the Central Intelligence Agency is forced to arrange a prisoner exchange, despite the agency's policy against it. Salt's CIA colleague Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) greets Salt at the border. As they drive away, Mike proposes marriage, despite Salt's admission to Mike that she is in fact a CIA operative.