A handwritten manuscript of Dante Alighieri's poem "The Divine Comedy" makes its way from a priest to a mob boss in New York City, where it is taken by Nick Tosches after he's asked to verify its authenticity.
Set in post-World War II Italian Venice, war-torn U.S. Army Colonel Richard Cantwell is a true hero who faces the news of his illness with indifference.
Richard and Cosima Wagner arrive in Venice following the première of Parsifal in 1882. His father-in-law, Franz Liszt, follows soon after as news of a comet headed towards earth launches Wagner into composing one final piece of music.
