The Prisoner (known only as Number Six) is a former government agent who abruptly resigns from his job and has been imprisoned in a beautiful and charming-yet-bizarre and enigmatic community - a mysterious seaside `village' that is isolated from the mainland by mountains and the sea. Presumably wanted for the top-secret information he knows, Number Six is hunted, yet thwarts his captors at every turn. However, he's still trapped in the village by floating, glowing `rovers', mysterious, balloonlike devices that capture those who try to escape.