From the Graham Greene novel, the story of star-crossed lovers whose short affair begins and ends as tumultuously as the war that is its backdrop. In Second World War England, Sarah Miles (Kerr) is the bored wife of a British civil servant. When Mr. Miles (Cushing) introduces her to American writer Maurice Bendrix (Johnson), she is unable to deny her attraction, or resist his interest in her. But Sarah mysteriously brings their affair to an end. With the help of a private detective (Parks), Maurice sets out to find out why.