A widowed New Jerseyan woman volunteers for spy duty at the CIA, being in her own opinion, expendable now that the children are grown, and is assigned to pick up a book in Mexico City, while finding out that it is easier said than done.

Mrs. Emily Pollifax of New Jersey goes to the CIA to volunteer for spy duty, being in her own opinion, expendable now that the children are grown and she's widowed. And being just what the department needed (someone who looks and acts completely unlike a spy), she's assigned to simple courier duty to pick up a book in Mexico City. But when the pickup doesn't go as planned, Mrs. Pollifax finds herself handcuffed to a handsome stranger on a plane bound for an Albanian prison. And it's up to her to get them out.—Kathy Li