Trama

An American journalism student in London scoops a big story, and begins an affair with an aristocrat as the incident unfurls.

In the funeral of the famous British journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane), his colleagues and friends recall how obstinate he was while seeking a scoop. Meanwhile, the deceased Joe discloses the identity of the tarot card serial killer of London. He cheats Death (Pete Mastin) and appears to the American student of journalism Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson), who is on the stage in the middle of a magic show of the magician Sidney Waterman (Woody Allen) in London, and tells her that the murderer is the aristocrat Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Sondra drags Sid in her investigation, seeking for evidence that Peter is the killer. However, she falls in love with him and questions if Joe Strombel is right in his scoop.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

British investigative journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) has just died. Crossing the river to his final resting place, he meets another fellow passenger Jane Cook (Fenella Woolgar), who believes she was murdered by her boss, wealthy blue-blooded Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman), as she had circumstantial evidence that he is the notorious Tarot Card Killer, who has murdered several short haired brunette prostitutes, leaving a tarot card at the scene as his calling card. Still a journalist at heart despite being dead, Joe tries to channel this information to the living, the strongest pull toward Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson), an American journalism student visiting London, she who would probably admit that she is too easily sidetracked to make a good journalist. After doing some research on Joe, Sondra has no reason to doubt what his spirit has told her, and as such decides to investigate if Peter is indeed the Tarot Card Killer. Sondra also decides to enlist the help of Sidney Waterman (Woody Allen), a second rate American magician with the stage name "Splendini", if only because it was when he pulled her from the audience of his show to assist with an on-stage trick that Joe's spirit visited her for the first time. Masquerading as an eccentric oil baron with a penchant for doing card tricks and his heiress daughter, Sidney and Sondra are able to infiltrate Peter's life directly, allowing Sondra, as "Jade Spence", to do her digging work closer to the source. She should be in no danger as a victim of the Tarot Card Killer neither being a prostitute, or having short brunette hair. But Sondra's distraction this time around is that she is falling in love with Peter and he seemingly with her, which may complicate matters regardless of if he is the Tarot Card Killer or not.—Huggo

A young journalist student, Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson), travels from America to England to interview a famous actor. After the not-so-complete interview her friend and she go to a magic show. When selected to take part in one of the acts, Sondra is contacted by a recently deceased famous journalist who is determined to give her his last scoop. He tells her that the son of Lord Lyman (Julian Glover), Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman), is the tarot card killer. Dragging along Sidney Waterman (Woody Allen), a kooky magician, Sondra attempts to discover who Peter Lyman really is and if he is a killer. What she doesn't realize is that while she is trying to protect the country of England, her heart might be what is really in jeopardy.—Maddi L.

Following the memorial service for investigative reporter Joe Strombel (Ian McShane), Strombel's spirit finds himself on the barge of death with several others, including a young woman who believes she was poisoned by her employer, Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). The woman tells Strombel she thinks Lyman, a handsome British aristocrat with political ambitions, may be the Tarot Card Killer, a notorious serial killer of prostitutes, and that he killed her when she stumbled onto his secret. The Tarot Card Killer left a card on each murder victim's body.

Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson) is a beautiful but awkward American journalism student on vacation in London. Pransky attends a performance given by magician Sid Waterman (Woody Allen), aka "The Great Splendini", and agrees to participate onstage as a volunteer. While in a booth known as The Dematerializer, Pransky encounters Strombel's ghost. The ghost has escaped the Grim Reaper himself to impart his suspicions of Lyman to a journalist who can investigate the story. Sondra decides to infiltrate Lyman's privileged world to find out if he truly is the dreaded criminal, enlisting Sid in the process (after she goes back to Sid, enters the Dematerializer again and makes Joe appear in front of Sid and repeat his story about Peter) and taking advantage of his powers of deception.

Sondra catches Lyman's attention by pretending to drown near him at an exclusive club's swimming pool. When he rescues her, she introduces herself as Jade Spence, daughter of a wealthy oil family from Palm Beach. While Sid poses as her father, "Jade" begins dating Lyman. Lord Lyman (Julian Glover) is Peter's father.

Sondra is convinced Lyman is the murderer, but Sid finds it hard to believe. Sondra gradually falls in love with Lyman and begins to trust him. Sondra even sleeps with Peter as she gets seduced by him. Sid meanwhile becomes less sanguine about Lyman as he notices more and more inconsistencies, especially after Sondra finds a Tarot deck hidden under a French horn in Peter's vault (Joe had "appeared" again and given the combination to the lock to Sid), a climate-controlled music room containing expensive antique musical instruments. Sid finally prevails upon Sondra to write a news story implicating Lyman, but the newspaper editor rejects the story because of Sondra's lack of proof.

Throughout their investigation, Sid and Sondra have a relationship that is in turns friendly, paternal, and antagonistic fueled largely by Sondra's annoyance that her smooth "Jade Spence" charade is being compromised by Sid's obnoxious attempts to act the part of a newly rich oil baron. Peter tells Sondra that he is going out of town, but that evening Sondra is having dinner with Sid and finds Peter roaming the streets. They follow Peter but lose him. Shortly thereafter they hear screams of a woman being murdered and strangled in a building. The woman's name was Elizabeth Gibson.

But Soon the police arrest the real Tarot Card Killer. Sondra, relieved that her suspicions were for naught, reveals her real name and the deception she and Sid had practiced. Lyman is surprisingly gracious and tells Sondra he wants to keep seeing her. They plan to spend the weekend at Lyman's isolated country estate. Later, Sid (at Strombel's urging) suggests that Lyman used the Tarot Card murders to cover up a murder he committed.

While Sondra and Lyman vacation in the country, Sid continues to investigate this theory (by interviewing people in the building where Elizabeth Gibson died). He finds that Lyman did frequent a prostitute, Betty Gibson, who was later killed (on the same day when Sid and Sondra found Peter roaming the streets suspiciously), apparently by the Tarot Card Killer. Gibson is described as a "baby-faced blonde" (just like Sondra) before Lyman convinced her to dye her hair, presumably to match the profile of the other Tarot victims. When Sid calls Sondra with his findings, she waves them off. Unbeknownst to her, Lyman is listening in on another extension.

Sid breaks into Lyman's vault again, this time finding a mysterious key, which turns out to be to Betty Gibson's flat. Peter's maid calls him and informs him that Sid came by and broke into his music room. Meanwhile, in a rowboat on Lyman's lake, Lyman confesses to Sondra that he killed Gibson to stop her from blackmailing him and used the Tarot Card pattern to allay suspicion, just as Strombel had told Sid. Lyman comments on the irony that he first met Sondra by saving her from drowning, and now she really would drown. He would kill Sid later; no one would connect an obscure stage magician's death to that of a clumsy journalism student. This scene is inter-cut with shots of Sid driving madly to the Lyman estate to rescue Sondra, ultimately ending in a car crash.

After his confession, Lyman throws Sondra into the lake and watches her go under. He then calls the police to report her drowning death. When they question him, he tells them Sondra was a terrible swimmer and almost drowned that first day at the pool. Suddenly, Sondra enters, soaking wet but smiling cheerfully. She informs Lyman and the police that the drowning had been an act to get his attention, and actually she was a very good swimmer.

Back in the newspaper offices, the editor who previously rejected Sondra's article now congratulates Sondra on a brilliant piece of investigative journalism, the start of a promising career. Sondra seems flattered and says she must also credit Joe Strombel and the late Sid Waterman, Splendini, who is now a passenger on the Reaper's ship, performing for his fellow spirits the same magical gags and comedy routines he did in life.