In the cold war, a lawyer, James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks) is recruited by the CIA and involved in an intense negotiation mission to release and exchange a CIA U-2 spy-plane pilot, Francis G. Powers. The pilot was arrested alive after his plane was shot down by the Soviet Union during a mission and stays in the company of a KGB intelligence officer, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), who was arrested for espionage in the US.

Rudolf's Workshop, 135 Plymouth Street and Anchorage Place, Brooklyn.

Anchorage Place (btw Plymouth Street and Water Street) Brooklyn.

Subway, Broad Street and Wall Street, Manhattan.

Shore Blvd (btw Hellgate Bridge and Robert F. Kennedy Bridge) Astoria.

18th Street and 26th Avenue, Astoria, Queens.

Rudolf's Apartment, 14-35 26th Avenue and 18th Street, Queens.

Hicks Street and Pineapple Street, Brooklyn.

New York County Supreme Court, 60 Centre Street and Worth Street, Manhattan.

Donovan's Office, 42 West 44th Street and 5th Avenue, Manhattan.