1979

Smiley now has the information he needs and starts to stir things up with the men of which Control suspected one to be the mole. He is able to eliminate two, himself and one other. The waiting begins, when suddenly the message arrives that Prideaux has disappeared.

Smiley, now fortified with new information, goes to confront Jim Prideaux, an old spy who long since came in from the cold and is now a school teacher. Control, in his last days, seemed to have confided in him and sent him on a mission behind the Iron Curtain to find out who exactly the mole in the Circus was, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Rich man, or Poor man.

Ricki Tarr becomes unstable and George Smiley must examine his past to find answers. He must examine his personal life as well as his past with the Circus, especially in regard to Control. He also reflects on his meeting with Karla, ‘The Sandman’.