London, the early 80s. David Katz, an American salesman with a clouded and perhaps shady past, is invited by a taxi driver to buy counterfeit notes. Katz goes to the police immediately and they set up a sting. However, Katz won't leave things to the police, but constantly adds new elements such as demanding millions of pounds of notes in one buy. Both Katz and the detective constable assigned to the case want to get to the leader of the counterfeiters and to whoever made these plates, "the magician." So too does the IRA, which has its own man on the hunt. What's Katz's game, and will it bring down the whole operation, plus cost him his marriage and maybe his life?