In the first Matt Helm adventure, the over-sexed secret agent comes out of retirement to defend a nuclear testing ground.

When American Intelligence learns that an enemy ring led by Tung-Tze is planning to divert an American missile so that it will destroy a vital atomic testing base in the United States, retired secret agent Matt Helm is persuaded to take the case. Clues lead Helm and Tina Batori, his former colleague, to Phoenix, where they witness the murder of Sarita, a strip tease dancer, by a man named Sam Gunther. Before she dies, Sarita gives an American scientist's computer tape to Gail, a woman who had been with Gunther. Helm forces Gail to take them to Tung-Tze's hideout, and there they meet "The Cowboy," a double agent who is the real leader of the spy ring. Helm destroys the equipment designed to divert the missile, kills the members of the spy ring, and goes back into retirement.