Ned's memoirs provide the foundation of the novel. He reminisces about aspects of his career as he listens to Smiley give a talk to a class of future spies whom Ned teaches. Ned believes that the world is changing as nations form new relationships made possible by the Soviet Union's collapsing empire. It is his hope — and Smiley's belief — that old brutal practices of the Cold War have become obsolete, that future British secret agents will lead lives that will be less hypocritical and dehumanizing than were the lives of the agents of his own generation. From episode to episode, Ned traces his own growth into a top secret agent. He begins as an idealistic young man. In training he is paired off with Ben, one of British intelligence's leading lights.

He feels himself inferior to his partner, and his superiors also seem to think that...