Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider star in this drama directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. David Locke (Nicholson) is a journalist working in Chad and hopelessly trying to meet with rebel fighters involved in the Civil War. When he discovers that the only other guest at the hotel he is staying in has died Locke decides to switch identities with the man. Deciding to keep the dead man's appointments Locke soon discovers that the man was a gun runner and his fresh start becomes a perilous one that takes him throughout Europe.