In New York City, the brother of infamous Nazi war criminal Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) is killed in a car accident. Shortly thereafter, members of a covert US government group called 'The Division' who are investigating the incident, begin to be murdered one by one.

When Doc Levy (Roy Scheider), a 'Division' agent, is the latest to be attacked, his brother Babe (Dustin Hoffman) witnesses his death and unwittingly becomes the pawn in a deadly game in which former SS dentist Szell, "the White Angel" of Auschwitz, is wrapping up loose ends to smuggle priceless diamonds out of the United States...