Em 1831 o irlandês Charles Adare (Michael Wilding) viaja à Austrália para começar uma nova vida. Logo ao chegar conhece o poderoso Sam Flusky (Joseph Cotten) e descobre que a esposa deste, Henrietta (Ingrid Bergman), foi sua colega de infância. Bela e instável, Henrietta é agora uma atormentada alcoólatra e sua reaproximação de Charles desperta ciúmes em Sam.
In the late 19th century, on board a ship sailing from Jamaica to England, Olivia Harwood, a recent widow, takes on the task of caring for several malaria patients, including Mark Bellis, a mysterious and tormented painter.
When a music-hall dancer is murdered, a moss rose marks the page of a Bible next to her body. Luckily, another chorus girl saw a gentleman leaving the lodgings. She approaches him directly, saying she'll go to the police if he doesn't meet her demands, but he brushes her off contemptuously. When he learns she's dead serious, he tries to buy her off with a thick wad of pound notes. But it's not money she's after; all she wants is two weeks at his country estate, living the life of a `lady.'
