The Russia House
Bartholomew "Barley" Scott-Blair (Sean Connery), the head of a British publishing firm, is on a business trip to Moscow. He attends a writers' retreat near Peredelkino where he speaks of an end to tensions with the West. Attentively listening is a mysterious man called "Dante" (Klaus Maria Brandauer). Dante later demands from Barley a promise to do the right thing if the opportunity arises.
A few months later, unable to locate Barley at a trade show, a beautiful young Soviet woman named Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer) asks publisher Nicky Landau (Nicholas Woodeson) to give Barley an important manuscript in her possession. Landau sneaks a look at the manuscript and delivers it to British government authorities. The manuscript is a document detailing the Soviet Union's capability for waging nuclear war. An investigation reveals "Dante" is in fact renowned Soviet physicist Yakov Saveleyev and the author of the manuscript.
British intelligence officers track Barley to his holiday flat in Lisbon, Portugal and interrogate him as to how he knows Katya. They realize he is as much in the dark as they are. MI6 realizes that the manuscript is also of vital importance to the American CIA, with both agencies wanting Barley to work on their behalf. British agent Ned (James Fox) then gives Barley some fundamental training as a spy.
Barley returns to the Soviet Union to seek out Dante/Yakov and confirm he is a genuine informant. He meets with Katya, with whom he is instantly smitten. Through her, he confirms that Dante is indeed the brilliant scientist Saveleyev. Barley also denies to Katya that he is a spy.
The British run the operation through its first phase while apprising the CIA of its results. The CIA team, headed by Russell (Roy Scheider), is worried because the manuscript states that the Soviet nuclear missile programme is in complete disarray, which suggests the United States has engaged in a useless arms race.
Katya sets up a meeting with Dante, going to great lengths to avoid being followed. Barley explains that the manuscript is now in the hands of British and American authorities. Yakov feels betrayed, but Barley convinces him that the manuscript can still be published. Dante gives Barley another volume of the manuscript after Barley assures him that he's sympathetic to the scientist's cause.
Impressed by the additional volume, Russell's boss Brady (John Mahoney) and U.S. military officer Quinn (J. T. Walsh) interrogate Barley to be certain where his loyalties lie. Russell states he would help the British operation out of a true ideological belief in Glasnost, although this would not be good news to his 'customers' of the weapons industry, who need an arms race for continued prosperity.
Convinced that Dante's manuscripts are truthful, the CIA and MI6 come up with a "shopping list" list of questions which is meant to extract as much strategic warfare information as Dante can provide. "Russia House" handler Ned senses something is amiss with Barley but the British-American team continues with its plans.
Barley returns to Russia and declares his love to Katya and admits he is an operative. Katya confesses that Yakov is not acting like himself and fears he may be under KGB observation or control. She gives Barley the address where Yakov will be staying when he is in Moscow.
Barley is under full British-American surveillance as he takes the shopping list to Yakov's apartment. Ned suddenly concludes that the Soviets know all about the operation and that they only let it run because they want to steal the 'shopping list' to learn exactly what the British and Americans know.
Ned is now convinced that Barley has made a deal to turn over the questions to the USSR. Russell disagrees and instructs the assignment to proceed as planned. The British-American team expects the meeting with Yakov to last a short time, but when Barley doesn't return after seven hours, Russell admits he was wrong. The team must now pretend the questions were deliberately false.
Barley, meanwhile, sends a note to Ned explaining that during a pre-arranged phone call to Katya, Dante used a code word to let her know that he had been compromised by the KGB and that her life is in danger. Barley admits he traded the shopping list to the Russians in exchange for the safety and freedom of Katya and her family. He admits that his actions might be unfair, but tells Ned, "you shouldn't open other people's letters."
Barley returns to his flat in Lisbon, where he waits for Katya and her family to begin a new life with him.
romantic