While travelling to visit their grandfather, two children are told the story of a family curse that has lasted two hundred years. During Napoleon's Italian invasion, Elisabetta Benedetti fell in love with French soldier Jean - but while Jean was distracted, Elisabetta's brother Corrado stole some gold that Jean was guarding, and set the curse in train. The Benedettis become wealthy, corrupt and hated by their former friends, who rename them the Maledettis - the cursed. The childrens' grandfather...

Elise (Angelina Jolie) sits next to an American tourist, Frank (Johnny Depp), on a train going to Venice. She has chosen him as a decoy, making believe that he is her lover who is wanted by police. Not only will they need to evade the police, but also the mobster whose money her lover stole.