Anthony Jarrant (Michael York) is a young, good looking Englishman whose had it easy all his life. Kate (Hildegard Neil), his sister, is more successful than him. She is secretary and lover to a ruthless German financier (Peter Finch) who arranges a job in Germany for Anthony. Anthony discovers that what he sees in the Germany of 1935 is not what he believes in - a discovery that inevitably leads to his downfall. Based on the novel by Graham Greene.