Adaptation of the novel by Graham Greene. Jean Louis Chavel, a well-to-do lawyer in Nazi-occupied France, is arbitrarily arrested and sent to prison. Once there, he is randomly selected for execution in retaliation for Resistance activities. Desperate to avoid the firing squad, Chavel offers all his possessions—including a chateau—to any prisoner who'll take his place. One man agrees, a sickly man named Michel, who wills Chavel's estate to his heirs. After the war, Chavel returns to his former home, now inhabited by Michel's mother and embittered sister Therese. Using an alias, Chavel hires on as a gardener and winds up falling for Therese. As their uneasy relationship develops, a mysterious man visits, claiming to be Jean Louis Chavel.
