Assuming that you're getting the email from an MSexchange server, you'll likely be needing Convert::TNEF (also available with Activestate's ppm). When POPping email from MSexchange you'll often find that an email consists solely of a "winmail.dat" attachment in TNEF format, containing the plain text, "rich" text, and/or MIME attachments of the original email.

The "rather long" POP3 example in the Convert::TNEF documentation should give you a good start.