Mike Wilson, an American reporter, and Howard Meade, an English photographer, ate on a train going through Austria, when their car is taken off and ran over an abandoned track-spur into an Iron Curtain country, where they are jailed as spies. Head of the state is Boronski, who is experimenting with the effect gamma rays have on humans, and his idea they can be used to mold children into geniuses. So far, all he has is some robot-like creatures under his control which he uses to stay in power. He orders Wilson and Meade released, fearing unwelcome bad publicity, but Wilson smells a story and begins investigating. He is aided by Paula Wendt, who works in the castle lab with Boronski because she wants to rescue her brother, Hugo, from Boronski's power. The latter makes prisoners of all three, and plans to eliminate using gamma rays.