In Rome, Simon discovers a protection racket targeting the local beggars who must relinquish part of their alms to a person known as the king of the beggars.
Simon receives a telephone call from a bookmaker who is being threatened by a "protection" gang - and deals with the matter in his own way.
A man is murdered in a phone booth on Waterloo station while Simon Templar is making a call. But before his death he has managed to slip a mysterious package of "Miracle Tea" into the bag of a young nurse who works at the naval base at Portland. Now the Saint wants to know why.
Is the cool blonde a secret agent or a crook? The Saint has to find out when a daring attempt is made to frame him.
While Tara is on leave, Steed takes on a temporary new partner, the aristocratic Lady Diana Forbes-Blakeney. Together they confront REMAK, a computerized assassin.
