The year: 1954, the height of the Cold War. The world is divided into East and West. In Naples, mafioso Lucky Luciano and his Mafia minions are busy fixing horse-races, and overseeing the creation of the global heroin trade.

In Hollywood, some members of Her Majesty's Secret Service have a dangerous mission for the supremely elegant actor Cary Grant. And in Bologna, Pierre Capponi, a lovelorn young barman, is about to embark on a painful odyssey in search of his missing father, one that will end up taking him half-way around the world. And bringing together all these strands and more is a missing television set, a McGuffin Electric, an appliance with a very special secret...