Captain Bennett Marco, Sergeant Raymond Shaw, and the rest of their infantry platoon are kidnapped during the Korean War in 1952. They are taken to Manchuria, and are brainwashed to believe that Sgt. Shaw saved their lives in combat — for which Congress awards him the Medal of Honor.
Years after the war, Marco, now back in the United States working as an intelligence officer, begins suffering the recurring nightmare of Raymond Shaw murdering two of his comrades, all clinically observed by Chinese and Russian intelligence officials. When Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon also has been suffering the same nightmare, he sets to uncovering the mystery and its meaning.
It is revealed that the Communists have been using Raymond Shaw as a sleeper agent, a guiltless assassin subconsciously activated by seeing the “Queen of Diamonds” playing card while playing solitaire. As such, he obeys orders, which he then forgets. Raymond Shaw’s Soviet secret service controller is his domineering mother, Eleanor, a ruthless power broker working with the Communists to execute a "palace coup d’état" and quietly overthrow the U.S. Government with the "Manchurian Candidate": her husband, McCarthy-esque Senator Johnny Iselin.
In the end, Raymond is provided with a sniper's rifle and is assigned to shoot a leading presidential candidate during his acceptance speech at a national convention. At the last moment, a remarkable plot-twist foils the plan.
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