George Smiley is once more called from retirement to come to the aid of 'the Circus', the code-name for the British Secret Intelligence Service. He is asked to settle the affairs of an old friend, an émigré Estonian general and British agent, who has been assassinated on his way to a meeting in a safe house in London. Smiley's old organisation, the Circus, has become so overwhelmed by political considerations that it wants no involvement. As Smiley begins to retrace the events of his friend's last days, the clues lead to his seemingly invulnerable nemesis in Soviet counter-intelligence, Karla, who may have finally exposed an Achilles heel.
Years before, Karla had nearly destroyed British counter-intelligence, wrecking Smiley's marriage in the process. Following an initial hunch and a fragment of evidence, Smiley methodically begins to put the pieces together, despite the fact that almost everyone he knows advises him to go home and enjoy his retirement. At the same time, Karla, realising that he has probably jeopardised himself by bending his own rigidly enforced rules, is ruthlessly trying to cover his own tracks.
Resolutely overcoming all obstacles he encounters, and with the help of some of his ex-colleagues, including the elegant but dubious former master of spy tradecraft, Toby Esterhase, Smiley collects the evidence needed to secure the support of Saul Enderby, the vain and cynical current chief of the revamped Circus. Smiley's investigations send him digging into the past on a twisted trail across Europe that moves, inexoribly, towards a final confrontation with his old adversary, Karla of Moscow Centre.
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