Peter Parker, a young British diplomat in Ceaüescu's Romania, goes on a trade promotion visit, with Stefan Teduscu a locally engaged Commercial Officer. He recklessly has a one-night stand with a local girl. Stefan, secretly a member of the Romanian Secret Service, discovers his indiscretion. Peter returns to Bucharest feeling anxious and guilty and watching every shadow. He gets involved with Mavis his boss' secretary and makes her pregnant. Twenty years later, Peter arrives in Barbados as the British High Commissioner. After an incident at the airport, Peter's posting rapidly goes downhill. He struggles to deal with the incompetence of Angus, his alcoholic deputy, and his own character weaknesses. Life gets even more complicated when Stefan, now a dubious businessman, turns up as the leader of a Trade Mission and tries to blackmail him. Meanwhile Nicu, a problem solver for a South American cartel, is contracted to eliminate Stefan; a task which he addresses enthusiastically. Concern is being felt at the top of the Foreign Office that all is not well in Barbados. Peter's efforts to control his rapidly deteriorating work and family situation and Nicu's vain attempts to despatch Stefan dissolve into near farce, reaching a climax at a Reception in the High Commissioner's Residence.