In Telefon Charles Bronson plays Greg. He's called into action by the Soviet powers to neutralize a problem that's arisen with a former weapon planted in the United States. Years ago the government trained 54 of its best English speakers to do a personal suicide sabotage mission against the United States when they hear a certain message. They were sent to America after being hypnotized into thinking they were a person who'd just died there. The plan was that they would live there until the day came for them to be triggered. At that point they would call them on the phone and recite a line from a Robert Frost poem. This would hypnotically trigger them to do their act of sabotage. They weren't needed immediately, and many of their targets became unimportant with the passing of time. Eventually the plan was abandoned, but it was never uncovered. Two sets of the targets with names and phone numbers exist. One of them had fallen into the hands of hardline Stalinists who wanted to destroy the Russian government. They decided to provoke the United States into action against Russia by activating the obsolete weapons.

Bronson was brought in to take care of the caller because of his photographic memory. He became the third copy of the book when he memorized it in Russia. He is then sent to the United States where he meets a double agent for the U.S. She is assigned by Russia to do whatever he says, but the United States instructs her to kill Bronson after he kills the man in America with the book who's personally making the calls. Bronson arrives in Los Angeles after two acts have taken place, and searches many national papers for evidence of further missions. He reads of a priest who's in the hospital after his obvious mission and Bronson knows the cover will be blown on Russia's secret weapon if the man is able to regain consciousness and talk to the police. He tells the woman to dress up as a nurse and kill him. She reluctantly obliges and this makes her feel she should be trusted with what his plans are. He doesn't tell her because she's not to be trusted.