Idealistic Viktor Cheraskin has invented a device to immobilize foot soldiers so that they can be captured without injury. However, he has refused to allow the USSR or the US to have it, for fear it might also be used as a deadly antiaircraft weapon. Steve makes some headway in winning Viktor's confidence, but a rival Soviet agent, Edmund Dimitri, soon makes contact. He announces that he has Viktor's wife in custody and threatens her life unless Viktor surrenders the device to him.