James Bond (Roger Moore) must locate a top secret encoding device lost when a British spy ship is accidentally sunk off the coast of Albania. However, he is competing for the find with Greek smuggler & KGB agent Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) and his henchman Emile Leopold Locque (Michael Gothard). As a further complication, sea diver Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) is also after Kristatos after he had her parents killed before they could recover the decoder. Bond stalwarts Q (Desmond Llewelyn) and Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) join the cast, as does Topol as Milos Columbo.