The story of Jake Webster, an American expatriate in Vienna who was the operator of Jake's Bar & Grill, an American-style establishment near the scenic heart of the city. In fact, the business was a cover for Jake's actual reason for being in Vienna. He was involved in tracking down various spies and international criminals at the behest of U.S. intelligence, which apparently held something against him which, if disclosed, would have resulted in his being deported from Austria and apparently then incarcerated in the United States. Jake's liaison with U.S. intelligence was a Major Caldwell.

A Munich, un homme, Harry Lange, qui a volé un magot important en lingots d’or, et a purgé huit ans de prison, est harcelé à sa sortie et se fait mortellement renverser par une voiture. Sa fille Cathy arrive des Etats-Unis pour les obsèques. Le major Barney Caldwell, des services secrets, demande au propriétaire d’un bar de la Leopoldstrasse, Jake Webster, ex-agent de la CIA, de trouver où l’argent est caché.