The IMF stages World War III complete with a nuclear holocaust, all for the benefit of one man, a former dictator who plans to return to power through an invasion funded by $600,000,000 he secreted away.

The IMF's target is an international chess grandmaster who also is planning to steal gold seized from the opposition movement of an unnamed Soviet Bloc country. Rollin poses as an amateur chess player, helped by a computer Barney is running that is unbeatable at chess. The plan, devised by Phelps, also calls for a devious way of snatching the gold from both the chess player and the authorities.

Prince Stephan's death has been faked by General Sabattini; leaving Stephan's childlike cousin Nicolai as sovereign. Sabattini is forcing Stefan's fiancée Francesca into marrying him, placing him in line to the throne. Phelps joins a group of Dutch tourists while the rest of the team infiltrate the royal palace as a magic act led by Paris. Before the show begins Barney loots the royal vault. It's the beginning of a complex scheme to rescue Stephan, Nicolai, Francesca and simultaneously eliminate Sabatini.

Two years earlier, a rare metal isotope important in nuclear weapons development was stolen from the U.S. and hidden in the United People's Republic. Otto Silff, one of three men involved in the theft, was killed by his co-conspirator, Major Paul Johan.

The IMF team is charged with the overthrow of the leader of an oil rich Arab nation to be replaced by his twin brother being held captive in an unknown location.

An Eastern Bloc nation is trying to develop a mind-controlling drug, a project led by Dr. Karl Turek. Phelps devises a plan to play Turek off against a rival, Colonel Borodin. Phelps and Meredyth pose as a pair of defecting U.S.

Paris poses as a legendary and colorful revolutionary leader to get close to two conspirators planning an invasion and takeover of the democratic nation of San Cristobal and turn them against each other. Meanwhile, the rest of the IMF team hurries to obtain the invasion plans, decode them and relay the plans to the San Cristobal defense forces before the invasion begins.

An enemy agent has knowledge of a potentially catastrophic event but is being held prisoner in another country. The IMF kidnaps the agent and uses a complicated psychological scheme to trick him into revealing his secret.

When a benevolent President plans to use the 40 million he has saved to help his country, he entrusts the money to the country's finance minister who is his confidante.

Dr. Erich Rojak, a brilliant scientist, is being held in an underground bunker containing a laboratory where he is forced to work on a small but extremely powerful long-range missile. If he succeeds, the missile has the potential to change the balance of power between the East and the West. Rojak is cooperating only because his totalitarian government is holding his wife, Anna, and threatens to kill her unless he completes the missile. The IMF's assignment is to rescue Rojak and his wife and to destroy his missile research. But another unfriendly government has sent professional killer Alexander Ventlos to make certain Rojak never completes his work.