In this WWII drama based on the Graham Greene novel, a wealthy attorney named Chavel (Anthony Hopkins) strikes a deadly bargain to save his own life. Imprisoned by Nazis and randomly selected for execution, he desperately convinces a poor, dying prisoner to take his place by promising his entire estate to the man's penniless family. Finally released and with nowhere else to go, he returns incognito to his former home where he is taken in by the new occupant...the sister of the dead man.