Eye of the Needle is a 1981 British spy film directed by Richard Marquand and starring Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan. Written by Stanley Mann, it is based on the 1978 novel of the same title by Ken Follett. The film is about a German Nazi spy in the United Kingdom during World War II who discovers vital information about the upcoming D-Day invasion and his attempt to return to Germany while he is stranded with a family on the isolated (fictional) Storm Island, off the coast of Scotland. Plot Henry Faber is a cold and emotionless German sleeper agent nicknamed "the Needle" because he prefers to kill with a stiletto. While spying in England, he obtains critical information about the Allies' plans for the Invasion of Normandy but is unable to transmit the information. After narrowly escaping British intelligence in London, who have come to realize he has vital military intelligence about D-Day and so are hounding his every move, Faber heads to Scotland for a rendezvous with a German U Boat. But fierce weather strands him on Storm Island. On the island he meets Lucy, a beautiful young woman; her disabled husband, David; their young son; and an elderly, alcoholic shepherd named Tom, the only other person on the island. Tom runs the lighthouse, with the island's only two-way radio. A passionate romance develops overnight between Faber and Lucy because of the estrangement she has with her husband after a car crash on their honeymoon which left him confined to a wheelchair, embittered and legless. David becomes suspicious of Faber when he discovers he is carrying a film canister. When questioned about the film, Faber ruthlessly kills David by throwing him off a cliff. Faber lies to Lucy to explain David's absence, claiming David has been drinking with Tom, as is often the case. However, Lucy soon finds her husband's body on the rocky shoreline and, lying to Faber, manages to flee with her child in their jeep. When Faber realizes she knows, he pursues her. Lucy drives with her little boy in lashing rain to the only radio on the island at Tom's lighthouse - only to find the old shepherd's murdered body. She radios the mainland and is told that help will be sent immediately, but in the meantime, it is vital for her to destroy the island's only radio transmitter - without telling her why.