One Rolls-Royce belongs to three vastly different owners, starting with Lord Charles (Rex Harrison), who buys the car for his wife (Jeanne Moreau) as an anniversary present. Another owner is Paolo Maltese (George C. Scott), a mafioso who purchases the car during a trip to Italy and leaves it with his girlfriend (Shirley MacLaine) while he returns to Chicago. Later, the car is owned by American widow Gerda (Ingrid Bergman), who joins the Yugoslavian resistance against the invading Nazis.