Set in Lisbon in 1941, during the height of World War II, neutral Portugal has become a hotbed of international espionage. Cândido de Oliveira—a former national football team player, co-founder of the Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola, and former manager of the Portuguese national team—uses his public fame, sporting travels, and media access as a cover to set up an anti-fascist intelligence network code-named Britânicos. Operating on behalf of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) under the nose of Salazar's Estado Novo secret police (PVE), he works to smuggle intelligence and assist refugees, leading to his eventual arrest, torture, and imprisonment at the Tarrafal concentration camp in Cape Verde.