Several years after his childhood friend, a violin prodigy, disappears on the eve of his first solo concert, an Englishman travels throughout Europe to find him.

Truman, a Chicago cop, sets out to find the killer of his brother. Meanwhile, another of his brothers, Briar (a hillbilly) decides to find the killer himself.

1830. Violin virtuoso and notorious womanizer Niccolò Paganini (David Garrett) is at the peak of his career, acclaimed throughout Europe. His name alone suggests countless affairs and scandals - which is exactly what his manager Urbani (Jared Harris) is doing his utmost to cultivate, for it is in his interest to market his famous client the best way possible. Only the London public has yet to be conquered. In a plan to lure Paganini to London for his British debut, English impresario John...

In present day Montreal, a famous Nicolo Bussotti violin, known as "the red violin," is being auctioned off. During the auction, we flash back to the creation of the violin in 17th century Italy, and follow the violin as it makes its way through an 18th century Austrian monastery, a violinist in 19th century Oxford, China during the Cultural Revolution, and back to Montreal, where a collector tries to establish the identity and the secrets of "the red violin."