A View to a Kill

In the pre-title sequence, James Bond is sent to Siberia to locate 003's corpse and recover a microchip. Upon doing so, he is ambushed by Soviet troops but flees in a submarine built to resemble an iceberg. After Bond has returned to England, Q has the microchip analysed and informs M, Bond and the Minister of Defence that its design is an exact match of a microchip made by Zorin Industries. The retrieved microchip is also designed to withstand the damage caused to other chips by a nuclear explosion.

Bond and his superiors visit the Ascot Racecourse to observe the company's owner, Max Zorin. While at the track, Zorin's horse miraculously wins the race; Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a horse trainer, believes Zorin's horse was given drugs, although when screened prior to the race, it did not show any signs of doping. Through Tibbett, Bond meets a French private detective named Aubergine to discuss how the horse won. Aubergine informs Bond that Zorin is holding an annual horse sale later in the month. However, during their dinner at the Eiffel Tower, Aubergine is killed by Zorin's mysterious bodyguard, May Day. Bond steals a Renault taxi to chase May Day but fails to apprehend her.

Bond and Tibbett travel to Chantilly, France where Bond poses as James St. John Smith (pronounced "sin-jin-smythe"), a rich dilettante. They break into Zorin's secret laboratory and learn that he is using microchips in his horses to release a drug when prompted by a hidden switch. Tibbett is later killed by May Day, but an attempt to drown Bond in a lake fails. Later, General Gogol from the Soviet Union shows up at Zorin's estate with several other KGB agents, but Zorin, an ex-KGB agent himself, becomes upset with Gogol and forces him to leave.
Max Zorin and May Day.
Max Zorin and May Day.

In his airship, Zorin unveils to a group of investors his plan to destroy Silicon Valley in an operation he dubs "Main Strike" in order to gain a monopoly in the microchip market. Bond later learns that Zorin is a psychopath, the product of Nazi medical experimentation during World War II, and later trained by the KGB.

Bond soon meets state geologist Stacey Sutton, whose oil company had been taken over by Zorin, and the two team up to steal documents about his plan from the San Francisco City Hall. Zorin arrives, holding them hostage, and then forces a city official to call the police. He kills the official and sets the building on fire in order to frame Bond for the murder. Bond and Sutton are first rescued by the fire brigade and then chased by the police. They escape in a fire-engine.

The next day, Bond and Sutton infiltrate Zorin's mine discovering his plot to detonate explosives beneath the lakes along the Hayward Fault and the San Andreas Fault causing them to flood. A larger bomb is also on site in the mine to destroy a "geological lock" that is in place to prevent the two faults from moving at the same time. Once destroyed, it would supposedly cause a double earthquake. The flooding of the mine is successful, nearly killing Bond and May Day, while Sutton escapes. Zorin and Scarpine also murder all of the mine workers as they attempt to flee. Because she was betrayed, May Day helps Bond remove the larger bomb that would destroy the lock. They put the bomb on a handcar and push it out of the mine along a railroad line. May Day stays on the car holding the faulty brake lever, sacrificing her own life and saving Silicon Valley.

Sutton is quickly captured by Zorin, who is escaping via airship with Scarpine and his mentor, Dr. Karl Mortner. Bond manages to grab hold of the mooring rope. During the flight, Bond ties the rope to the Golden Gate Bridge. Stacey attacks Zorin and in the ensuing fracas, Mortner and Scarpine are temporarily knocked out. Stacy flees on the bridge and joins with Bond, but Zorin comes after them, and Zorin and Bond battle on the bridge. Bond gains the upper hand on Zorin in hand-to-hand combat and Zorin plummets to his death in San Francisco Bay. Mortner attempts to kill Bond with a bundle of dynamite but loses his grip on it. Seconds later, the dynamite explodes and the airship with it. Q later uses his fake-dog surveillance camera to locate 007. He finds him safely making love to Stacey in her shower.