Cassavio (Orson Welles) es un extraño personaje que, al borde de su muerte, lega a sus descendientes su fortuna y su mansión “Malpertius”. Un caserón que esconde un oscuro secreto y del que es muy difícil escapar.
A local brass band rehearses for a music competition in Bruges. They are confident that a new march by a young music teacher will get them the first prize. Their chance of winning seems to get an awful lot smaller when a a fight breaks out between the chairman and the music teacher -- urging the latter to sell the march to another band.
