Story of the Siberian monk Gregory Rasputin and the hold he exerted over the court of the last Russian czar, Nicholas.

Sylvie, a young woman who believes to be cursed, lives in the town of Carcassonne with her guardian, Mr. Toulzac. He is a retired teacher who wishes to discover the secret of the Cathars, a Christian sect of the Middle Ages that glorified death over life. Sylvie meets Roland, a composer who instills new hope into her troubled mind. Mr. Toulzac then asks her then to renounce the world and go down a secret tomb he has just found.

Town trollop Safia, much against her better judgment, falls in love with Matteo, a beggar and mystic in the native quarter of Sirocco. She flees to France, first as the mistress and then wife of a wealthy archaeologist, and bears him Matteo's child, whom he believes to be his own. Complications arise years later when Matteo finds Safia, and a ring of blackmailers uncover her past and exposes her to her husband.

An alcoholic doctor accidentally kills someone and manages to make the death look like an accident. The episode triggers a sense of confidence and he resolves to correct the miseries of his life.

In World War II France, American soldier Michael Blake captures, then loses Nazi-collaborator art thief Paul Rona, who leaves behind a gem studded gauntlet (a stolen religious relic). Years later, financial reverses lead Mike to return in search of the object. In Paris, he must dodge mysterious followers and a corpse that's hard to explain; so he and attractive tour guide Christine decamp on a cross-country pursuit that becomes love on the run...then takes yet another turn.