After a year in the El Rican embassy under the threat of extradition to America, Dan is bored, depressed and has little hope of getting out. Largely forgotten by the media and at odds with the ambassador's son Rafael, his only chance is to push his case in an interview with the Guardian. The embassy staff are struggling to attract people to the annual embassy ball since Dan is old news and nobody wants to come, so Rafael decides to offer sanctuary to another international fugitive: a childlike, internet pirate called Ludo Backslash.

Having failed with Ludo, MI6 try to lure Dan out of the embassy by setting up an internet-based honey trap. Meanwhile, the CIA have placed a mole in the embassy who is leaking staff secrets and framing Dan for it. As a result the staff start acting extremely secretively, so Ludo, who is eagerly awaiting his birthday, starts expecting a huge surprise party. Birthday plans have to be put on hold though, as MI6 and the CIA get closer to Dan, so Ludo and Dan's hapless lawyer Lorna has to intervene.