| Director | Nicolas Roeg |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, thriller film |
| Runtime | 124 min |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Budget | $11 million |
| Box office | $123,572 |
In 1925 Alaska, gold prospector Jack McCann stumbles upon a near-abandoned mining encampment where he witnesses a maddened fellow prospector commit suicide. Later, Jack discovers a mysterious lodestone at the base of a tree before being surrounded by four wolves. Jack seeks shelter at a remote brothel in the mountains, where he has a spiritual experience with the madam, Frieda, a clairvoyant who tells him the lodestone "found" him. Frieda warns Jack that he will strike gold, but that it will lead him toward a grim fate. The following morning, while prospecting, Jack falls through a glacier into a cache of gold beneath. Jack returns to the brothel—now mysteriously empty and dilapidated—and witnesses Frieda, lying alone in the parlor, die. Jack's discovery quickly makes him one of the wealthiest men in the world.
Twenty years later in 1945, Jack lives in luxury on a Caribbean island he owns, in an estate named Eureka. However, Jack's wealth brings him no peace, as he copes with Helen, his bored, alcoholic wife; Tracy, his headstrong daughter who has married Claude Van Horn, a dissolute, philandering French social climber; his paranoid assistant Charles Perkins; and Miami mobsters led by Aurelio D'Amato sent by Jewish mafia crime boss Mayakofsky, who seeks to acquire Jack's island and build a casino there. Jack's life is entangled with the obsessions of those around him with greed, power, and debauchery against a background of occult symbolism.
Tracy, caught in the midst of her father's hostility toward Claude, eventually decides to break ties with him. This results in Jack lashing out at both Claude and her, whom he comes to believe want to "steal his soul". Meanwhile, under Mayakofsky's supervision, Aurelio continues to vie for Jack's island, but Jack resists their attempts. One night during a rainstorm, Claude and three of his friends attend a Voodoo ritual that descends into a maddening orgy. The same night, Aurelio, along with several of his henchmen—including an associate named Pete—arrive on the island and travel to Eureka at Mayakofsky's order. Jack remains defiant against their attempts to strongarm him and take ownership of the island. Pete brutally attacks Jack, bludgeoning him in the head with a wrench before burning him alive with a blowtorch as he lay helpless in his bed, and then decapitating his corpse with a cleaver. The vicious murder is witnessed by Claude, who returns to the house in the midst of it, as well as by Charles, who was sleeping in an adjacent bedroom.
Claude is swiftly apprehended by authorities, who believe him to be Jack's killer, and he is put on trial for murder. After several witnesses give testimony, including a dramatic testimony from Tracy, Claude is ultimately acquitted of Jack's murder due to lack of evidence. His acquittal coincides with the end of the Caribbean War, but the judge notifies him that he will be deported from the island. Claude and Tracy celebrate his freedom with a formal dinner, during which Claude proposes that they sell Eureka and move to France. Tracy responds that she wishes to give the entire island away for free. Claude, after realizing he will only bring Tracy pain, leaves the house and takes a rowboat to his sailboat anchored offshore as Tracy watches in tears. Jack's murder remains formally unsolved.