Ethan Hunt has to go it on his own as the IMF (Impossible Mission Force), for all intents and purposes, is shut down by the CIA head Alan Hunley for a lack of results on their latest mission, plus mishaps such as the Kremlin getting destroyed from their previous mission (as chronicled in the fourth M:I flick, Ghost Protocol). Hunt really wants to take down shadowy international terrorism syndicate leader Solomon Lane, who has been orchestrating a series of seemingly unrelated catastrophes for a higher purposes we don't come to fully find out until later in the plot. For reasons he can't make out, Lane has an operative in his employ, Ilsa Faust, who is as deadly as she is alluring, and she is helping Ethan Hunt while also committing some heinous acts -- a potential double agent in their midst.