Synopsis - On Her Majesty's Secret Service

London: Q is briefing M on the latest advancements in miniaturisation but M's mind is elsewhere - 007 is missing and no-one seems to know where he is. James Bond is, in fact, in Portugal, still in hot pursuit of Ernst Davro Blofeld when he is overtaken by a beautiful young woman driving a fast car. A little further down the road, he finds her car abandoned by a beach and watches the woman through a gun sight as she seems to try to commit suicide by wading out into the sea. Bond comes to the rescue, but his efforts are hampered both by the woman's apparent unwillingness to be saved and by a pair of gun wielding thugs who try make off with the woman. Bond overpowers the men and, after a furious fist fight escapes with his life - the woman, meanwhile, has already made her own escape.

Bond returns to his hotel and, later that night, relaxes at a casino. He plays a few hands of baccarat and watches as the woman from the beach, the Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo [though she prefers to go by the name Tracy] makes a reckless bet which she is unable to cover. Bond graciously bales her out, claiming that they previously arranged to be partners. Bond follows her to the restaurant where they flirt with each other before Tracy goes to her suite, leaving Bond a spare set of keys.

Bond calls on her later and is attacked by one of the heavies from the beach. Another fight ensues from which Bond again emerges victorious. Bond returns to his own suite where he is held at gunpoint by a partially clothed Tracy. Bond disarms her and demands answers, even slapping her about when she refuses to talk. Bond tells her to get dressed, but she returns to his bed instead. The thug, meanwhile, has come round and is eavesdropping at the door. Tracy is still unwilling to talk but opts to show Bond a good time in return for his help earlier. The thug discretely leaves...

Next morning, Tracy is gone and Bond learns that she has checked out of the hotel, leaving behind chips sufficient to cover her debt. In the foyer, Bond is intercepted by a pair of men wielding guns and is taken out to a car where the heavy from the hotel is waiting for them. Bond is driven off to a dockside warehouse. He overpowers his captors and hides in an office where he meets businessman Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Union Corse, one of the largest crime syndicates in Europe.

Draco tells Bond that he is Tracy's father and is worried about his wayward daughter and believes that he may have spoiled her. He wants Bond to help him sort her out, believing that Tracy will be 'cured' by the domination of a good man! Draco believes that Bond is that man and offers him £1 million if he will marry her. But Bond agrees to at least see Tracy if Draco will help him track down Blofeld.

Bond returns to London, much to the obvious relief of Moneypenny. M announces that he is taking Bond off Operation Bedlam, the ongoing search for Blofeld which has so far taken up two years of Bond's life. Disgusted, Bond storms out and dictates a letter of resignation to an understandably shocked Moneypenny.

Bond goes to his office and begins sifting through his belongings, including several artefacts from earlier adventures [see The Anorak Zone]. Bond is summoned back to M's office where he is curtly told that his resignation has been accepted. But it turns out that Moneypenny has instead submitted a request for two weeks leave for which a repentant Bond is duly grateful - as is M who is grateful for Moneypenny's wiles!

Back in Portugal, Tracy has returned to the family villa for her father's usual extravagant birthday bash where Bond is one of the guests. Tracy is less than pleased to see him, though her optimistic father believes that she likes him. Tracy learns of her father's agreement with Bond and is appalled, demanding that her father hand over the information he wants at no charge. Bond makes it clear, however, that he'd be happy spending time getting to know her.

Draco tells Bond that there may be a connection between Blofeld and a Swiss lawyer, Gumbold. Bond refuses to give up on Tracy and they embark on a whirlwind romance, during which time Bond genuinely falls in love with Tracy.

Bond eventually gets his mind back on his work and pays a visit on Gumbold at his offices in Geneva. But Gumbold has just left, leaving Bond to break in and begin a discreet search of his things. From a window, Bond watches as workers on a construction site opposite load a case into a crane which is then winched up to him - it turns out to be a large electronic safe-cracking device [presumably from Q] with which, after a time, he gains access to the lawyer's secret documents. One of the documents he finds is a letter, apparently meant for Blofeld, from the Royal College of Arms in London. Bond uses the photocopier built into the safe cracking device to run off a copy, unaware that Gumbold is returning to the office. The workmen swing the crane bucket back in time for Bond to dispose of the safe-cracker and Bond is able to make good his escape [with a centrefold he stole from Gumbold's copy of Playboy!] just as the lawyer returns.

Bond returns to England where he calls upon M at his home, telling him what he has learnt. It seems that Blofeld is trying to pass himself off as the Comte de Bleauchamp. Bond travels to the Royal College of Arms to meet with genealogist Sir Hilary Bray who has agreed to meet with Blofeld to help him confirm his lineage. Bray agrees to allow Bond to pose as him for the meeting and advises that the real Comte has no earlobes.

Heavily disguised, Bond arrives in Switzerland where he is met by Irma Blunt, a representative of de Bleuchamp and, tailed by one of the workmen from the site in Geneva, is taken by helicopter to a mountain top mansion, Piz Gloria. En route, he is shown another mountain top structure, the Bleuchamp Allergy Research Institute, funded by 'the Comte'. On arrival at the Comte's base of operations, Bond is shown to his room and is invited to dinner at 7 o'clock that night.

Dressed in filly shirt and kilt, Bond attends dinner only to be confronted by Blunt and a dozen beautiful women from all around the world who immediately flock around him and start flirting with him. It turns out that Bond is the only other man in the building other than the staff and that the women are 'patients' of the Comte's allergy treatment program. Over a sumptuous meal, Bond delivers a lecture on genealogy which does nothing to dampen the ardour of the women, particularly Ruby who writes her room number on his thigh with lipstick.

After dinner, Bond is escorted down into the mountain itself and into a vast subterranean laboratory. Here, he meets 'the Comte' who indeed has no earlobes, and learns more of the Comte's allergy research which seems to mostly involve psychological conditioning used in tandem with experimental drugs.

Later that night, Bond sneaks out of his room and pays a visit to Ruby and seduces her [we also learn that, like all good Scotsmen, Bond wears nothing under his kilt!]. He learns that Ruby had come to the clinic in order to cure herself of her chicken allergy - suddenly, a siren sounds and Ruby tells Bond that it's part of the cure. Bond hears Blofeld's voice over a speaker, apparently hypnotising Ruby, telling her that she really loves chickens. Bond tries to wake her, but the hypnotic trance is too deep, so he leaves.

Next morning, while Bond joins in a game of curling with the girls, his associate from Geneva tries to get a cable car ride up to Piz Gloria but is refused by a belligerent attendant. He eventually tries to climb the mountain but disturbs some birds who give him away. The man is captured and Blofeld warns him that Piz Gloria is private property. The man spots Bond but is taken away and despatched back down the mountain by cable car. Meanwhile, Bond has managed to score twice and has arranged two dates for later that day!

That evening, Bond calls on Ruby put is surprised and knocked unconscious by Irma Blunt who is in the girl's bed. When he comes round, he is visited by Blofeld who lets on that he knows Bond's real identity and also tells him that Bond's associate has been taken care of. Blofeld reveals something of his plans - he has been developing methods of spreading fatal diseases, such as foot and mouth disease, around the world and has now perfected a virus that can cause total sterility in certain species of cereals and livestock. If the United Nations do not accede to his demands, he will begin systematically destroying his selected targets - using his "angels of death", the twelve girls in his clinic. Blofeld refrains for now from telling Bond what it is that he's after. Bond is taken to his new quarters and, on the way, sees his associate hanging from his climbing ropes outside. Bond tries to escape but is overpowered and secured in the gear house of the cable car.

While the girls celebrate Christmas Eve upstairs, Bond works on a way to get out of his cell. Risking his life, he clambers around the potentially lethal machinery in the gear house, eventually making it outside as Blofeld again hypnotises his young angels of death. Bond defies death to make good his escape, hitching a ride back to Piz Gloria on top of one of the cable cars. There, he spies on the girls being hypnotised, arriving just in time to see them opening presents from Blofeld - packages containing boxes of perfumes, complete with a warning never to use the atomiser until they are told to. The boxes also contain radio receivers in their compacts via which Blofeld will broadcast his hypnotic orders. He then watches them as they leave aboard the cable car.

Having heard enough, Bond makes his escape from Piz Gloria on skis. He is hotly pursued by a gang of Blofeld's assassins. After a dramatic chase [during which he loses one of his skis], Bond makes it to the local village just in time to see the girls leaving aboard a bus bound for the airport. Trying to shake off his persistent pursuers, Bond buys tickets for a skating festival and is astonished to be met by Tracy who happens to be in the area. They escape together during a spectacular fireworks display and make it back to the next village safely.

Tracy reveals that her father told her where Bond might be and that she was looking for him. Bond stops off at a phone box and tries to phone London, but Blunt and her assassins are hot on his heels. Bond and Tracy are again forced to flee, winding up taking part in a stock car rally. Eventually, they shake off their pursuers, but are defeated by a blizzard that suddenly blows up, forced to take refuge in a stable. During the night, Tracy tries to find out what has been happening, but Bond can't tell her because of the nature of his job. Professing his love for Tracy, he proposes to her and she accepts.

The next morning, Blofeld's goons find Tracy's car abandoned in the stables - she and Bond have already made their escape by ski and are hurtling down the mountain slopes. Blofeld's men eventually find them and the chase is on again. Blofeld triggers a massive avalanche which engulfs Bond and Tracy. In the aftermath, Blofeld finds a battered Tracy and assumes that Bond has been killed.

But Bond is very much alive and has a visit from M with grave news - the United Nations are going to accede to Blofeld's demands, a full pardon for his past crimes and recognition of his right to the title Comte de Bleuchamp. Bond advocates an armed assault on Piz Gloria, but M has been ordered not to attack the installation. M shuts down Operation Bedlam, much to Bond's disgust.

Bond allies himself with Draco and together they mount their own operation against Blofeld, Draco wanting to rescue his daughter unharmed. Tracy is being well treated by Blofeld who is making his own clumsy attempt to seduce her. Posing as a Red Cross rescue mission, Draco, Bond and their men fly to Piz Gloria aboard a fleet of helicopters and begin their assault.

A spectacular battle rages around the mountain top and Tracy puts up a valiant fight of her own. Bond locates his beloved and she is taken to safety as Bond sets off after Blofeld. He finds and photographs a map detailing Blofeld's plans for his "angels of death" and is very nearly killed by Blofeld himself.

With Piz Gloria wired to explode, Bond and Blofeld barely escape with their lives, fleeing the building shortly before it spectacularly blows up. The two men fight a running battle across the snow and down a bob sleigh run. Blofeld drops a grenade, forcing Bond out of the run but our man isn't finished yet and jumps aboard Blofeld's sleigh for another hand-to-hand tussle. Blofeld nearly kills Bond, but ends up caught in an overhanging tree branch. Bond survives the crash of the sleigh and is rescued by a loveable St Bernard's.

Later, Bond goes shopping for a wedding ring and eventually marries Tracy at a ceremony held at Draco's villa. M, Q and a tearful Moneypenny are all in attendance, with Q dispensing fatherly advice! But their happiness is short lived - as the happy couple leave for their honeymoon, they are ambushed in a clifftop lay-by by Bunt and Blofeld [his neck in a brace] who strafe the wedding car with machine gun fire, killing Tracy. When a police motorcyclist arrives, he finds a shocked Bond cradling his dead wife in his arms, sobbing that they "have all the time in the world."