On board the Orient Express as it pulls out of the Gare De Lyon is a man named Poole, who has stolen an important political diary and is being pursued by two people who want it back. Valya wants the diary to avenge her father's political assassination, while Zurta is the thief who acquired it for her. Poole throws them off the trail by hiding the diary in the compartment of pompous author Alastair McBain.