This is the true story of the secret trial and conviction of Penn Towsend Kimball, a respected American journalist and teacher. What happened to him is not supposed to happen to Americans. These things only happen, they believe, in places like the Soviet Union, where secret police force spy on citizens and were people have no way to fight back- but did happen. In 1977 Kimball, a former New York time editor , discovered a secret goverment security risk. Their files had circulated in Washington for over 30 years affecting jobs, passaports and applications for grants. But they had misjudged their quarry. Not only was Kimball an exmarine, Sunday School teacher and an aide to top politicians , he was also and investigative journalist who relished a scrap. He claimed that their veredic on him was based not on facts but innuendo and gossip from anonymous informats. He asked for a hearing and sight of his complete file but the goverment repeatedly refused. For the next ten years, Kimball tried to clear his name refusing to believe that you can´t fight the government and bring them to account. This film , constructed as a low key thriller, is Kimball´s chilling investigation into the inner workings of goverment agencies who compile files on ordinary citizens . In it Kimball uncovers an amazing sega of special agents, foreign spies and hearsay allegations which made up his file. Three months after the transmission of this film in America the goverment made an unprecedented concession. They admitted in court that they possessed no evidence that Mr. Kimball was 'ever disloyal to the United States' and offered to destroy the files . NB two different versions of the film were made. This is the UK version.