In 1979, Iranian Islamists storm the United States Embassy in Tehran, taking sixty-six embassy staff hostage, but six avoid capture and find shelter in the home of Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), a CIA exfiltration specialist, concocts a plan to free them using a fake science-fiction film production company. He works with film producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) and Hollywood make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman) to create a cover story that requires the escapees to pose as Canadian filmmakers scouting exotic locations for a science fiction film in Iran.