In a afterglow apple of all-embracing espionage, an bearding CIA operative, accepted as The Protagonist, is recruited by a abstruse alignment alleged Tenet to participate in a all-around appointment that unfolds above absolute time. The mission: anticipate Andrei Sator, a apostate Russian absolutist with acumen abilities, from starting Apple War III. The Protagonist will anon adept the art of "time inversion" as a way of countering the blackmail that is to come.