M calls this case a "soft option." He sends Bond to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of the head of the Kingston station. Jamaica is luxurious, and the seductive Honey Rider is beautiful and willing—but they are both part of the empire of Doctor No.

Bond discovers that Doctor No is working with the Russians, who have supplied him with several million dollars' worth of equipment to sabotage nearby American missile tests with strange energy waves. The doctor is a worthy adversary, with a mind as hard and cold as his solid steel hands and an obsession for power. During the course of his mission Bond must battle deadly assassins, sexy femmes fatales, and even a poisonous tarantula.