Monsieur Spade

Sam and Teresa, a girl he is being paid to deliver, bond when they are stuck for the night in a car. In the morning, an attractive woman, Gabrielle, who will become Sam's wife, arrives to give them a ride. Eight years later, Gabrielle has passed away and Sam has stayed on the estate. Sam's doctor tells Sam that he is healthy, but, that emphysema is in his future if he does not stop smoking. A young man comes to Sam's estate, and asks Sam if he can spend time on the estate painting landscapes as his father did. There is a flash-back: While Teresa and a dog play in the field, Gabrielle explains the history of Philippe and how he is blackmailing her and others about activities during the war (WWII? The Algerian War?) Apparently, there is a trust fund in which Teresa's mother put funds (from stolen property) that Teresa will get when she is 18. Teresa's mother created the trust fund to protect the money for Teresa from her father, Philippe. Sam visits Marguerite Devereaux at the club. She pays him his share of the club's earnings. Apparently Sam owns one-half the club. Jean-Pierre Devereaux wants Sam to buy him out of his share of the club. Jean-Pierre claims that Sam stole it and the estate, too. Sam has a discussion with the Mother Superior at the convent where Teresa now lives. He also delivers a donation, effectively paying for Teresa's room and board and care. Apparently, Teresa is bitter about being in the convent instead of with Sam, or at the estate, or both. Sam, alone at home in the late evening, receives a phone call from Philippe. Philippe warns Sam to stay away from Teresa, and threatens Sam if he does not. Sam hears a gunshot through the phone. The next day, Sam reports his phone conversation with Philippe to Chief of Police Patrice Michaud. Patrice grudgingly says that he will investigate. Before leaving, Sam tells Patrice, "You owe me." Patrice replies, "You have that backwards. You live here at my pleasure. Sam has a conversation with Marguerite in the empty club. He explains how he came to be what he was: someone who solved other people's problems by brutalizing or eliminating the people who caused those problems. Marguerite's husband Jean-Pierre enters; he threatens Sam and attacks Sam, but Sam immobilizes him. Sam returns home at night. Teresa comes running. She tells Sam a story about her father Philippe coming to visit her and that he'd been shot. Then there was an ugly monk, and the monk hit Mother Superior. Sam goes to the convent to investigate. He finds multiple murdered nuns.

Sam prepares breakfast for two, then discovers that Teresa is gone. Someone has slashed his tires. He takes the other (luxury) car. He comes upon George Fitzsimmons, walking and returning from painting, who tells Sam that he saw Teresa looking distraught, shoes muddy, on the road. Sam goes to the convent. The cleaning man tells him that the girls have been sent to another convent and that he has not seen Teresa. Sam goes into Mother Superior's (Elizabeth's) office, and searches for info. He walks away with some folders. He later suspects that one nun's folder is missing. He hears the bells, goes up into the bell tower, and finds Teresa there. After a discussion, Teresa and Sam drive away. They talk about Gabrielle. Teresa says, "She didn't want me to hate you for what you did to my father." They are shot at by a man on a motorcycle. Neither of them are hurt. Sam chases in the car, but the shooter escapes on the motorbike. Patrice and his brother retrieve a bullet lodged in the car. They conclude it is from an army rifle. Henri reports to Sam. Philippe's file has lots of blacked out info. Sam concludes that Philippe is a spy. Henri also says that Philippe was hiding an Algerian woman in his quarters. A flashback - Chief of Police Patrice Michaud and Mother Superior discuss awful events and killings in the past and also what to do about Philippe. Patrice wants to kill him, or to have Sam take care of him. Mother Superior resists. We also learn the Jean-Pierre suffers from very serious PTSD from the horrors of his experiences in the war. Cynthia Fitzsimmons wants to see the painting her late husband did. She says that she also knows Philippe Saint-André. The discord and unhappiness between Jean-Pierre and Marguerite continues. Teresa and Sam talk. Who shot at her and Sam? Teresa tells about the shootings of the nuns. The killer wanted to know where the boy was, but the nuns did not talk and were shot one by one. Teresa saves herself by stabbing the killer with the knife she had hidden in her doll. Samir, who works for Marguerite Devereaux, finds the boy hiding in Marguerite's office.

During a flashback we hear a discussion between Sam and Philippe that fills in some of the back-story about Philippe's attempts to blackmail Gabrielle and about why Gabrielle wanted Philippe to disappear. Marguerite's hired man, Samir, takes the boy to his family and mates for protection. They are scared. Deportation and death? A flashback: Sam talks with Gabrielle. Maybe she is sick. Their relationship and her life do not have a long expected lifespan. Samir, the hired hand and friends discuss Zaid. Is he the chosen one? Is he the Mahdi? We/they must tell someone. They bring in their Imam, who tells them that the boy is extremely important. The boy, Zaid, keeps writing nonsense characters. What does it mean? A code? Does Zaid have encryption/decryption capabilities? Sam and Jean-Pierre Devereaux have a conversation. It's about Gabrielle, how she was mentally unstable after her first husband's (Jacque's) death. About who owes whom; about whether Marguerite loves Jean-Pierre; about settling accounts. Jean-Pierre says that he will not fight Sam any longer, and that if he wants Sam dead, he only had to wait, i.e. to wait for Sam to smoke himself to death. Sam tells Teresa how her father and mother got the money to fund her (Teresa's) trust fund: stolen antiques and worse. Philippe calls: Meet me in the cemetery. Sam finds his gun; looks at several passports. Sam goes to the cemetery in the dark. No one is there. He races back home, worrying about Teresa. There is someone in the house. Helena is on the floor. Sam is attacked by and struggles with someone who is trying to kill him. George Fitzsimmons and his mother Cynthia have bugged Sam's house, are listening in, and hear the fight. George picks up a gun and starts to go. But Cynthia stops him and says: We have been told not to interfere. But, we viewers do not know by whom. Who are their managers?

1945: Jacques meets Gabrielle in the dark. Jacques believes they are leaving, together. Gabrielle accuses Jacques of something, then she shoots him. One after another more than 5 or 6 people show up and each shoots Jacques. Philippe and his mother hear the shots, and apparently they know what has happened and are in on it. Everyone is in one it. Everyone shoots him: Mother Superior, the doctor, Patrice, and more. Someone in Sam's house attacks Helena, then tries to strangle Sam. Henri saves him. Sam sends Henri, Helena, and Teresa upstairs. He then brutally interrogates the attacker, who is from SDECE, the French secret service during the Algerian war. Marguerite is taken to speak with Jean-Pierre's father, who is dying. Marguerite hates him and will not forgive him for what he has done, especially to Jean-Pierre. The second SDECE man is found dead in Sam's swimming pool. He was shot in the back of the head, but Henri claims that he only winged him in the arm. Patrice warns Sam that he is not in San Francisco any more and cannot do whatever he wants. Jean-Pierre's father is dying. He gives a packed of letters (from Jean-Pierre?) to Marguerite. Samir's wife warns him about a lurker and that the boy is weird. Jean-Pierre talks with an old friend who was tortured by the FLN. Marguerite confesses that she cooperated with Jean-Pierre's father to try to get him out of the war. Jean-Pierre confesses to Marguerite about some deal with the devil. Jean-Pierre turns the boy, Zaid, over to Philippe. Sam and Patrice have lunch with George and his mother Cynthia. Sam becomes suspicious about their activities. Are they spying?