From the novel by Graham Greene comes this story of star-crossed lovers whose short affair begins and ends as tumultuously as the war that is its backdrop.

In England during the second World War, Sarah Miles (Deborah Kerr) is the bored wife of a British civil servent. When Mr. Miles introduces her to American writer Maurice Bendrix (Van Johnson) at one of the couple's cocktail parties, she is unable to deny her attraction to him, or to resist his interest in her.

Almost as quickly as the two become deeply involved, spinning their dreams into plans for a long future together, Sarah mysteriously brings their affair to an end. With the help of a private detective (Albert Parks), Maurice sets out to find out why: did Sarah never love Maurice, or did she love him too much?