French Riviera, 1956

Bernie Gunther is working under an alias at a hotel, trying to stay out of trouble. He plays bridge and befriends the famous writer Somerset Maugham, who also lives on the Côte d'Azur. In his magnificent villa, Maugham mentions to Bernie the existence of an incriminating photograph: it shows Maugham among a group of naked men by a pool - one of them is the notorious spy Guy Burgess, who recently defected to Moscow along with Donald Maclean.

The past comes knocking on Bernie's door. The photograph is in the possession of an old acquaintance of his, Harold Hennig, a former captain in the Nazi security services and a ruthless blackmailer, responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in 1945, including the woman Bernie loved.

Hennig demands fifty thousand dollars from Maugham to return the photograph. When the writer suggests that Bernie take on the case, he initially hesitates. However, he misses his detective work and also wants to get his revenge on Hennig.