The life of celebrated American writer Harry Street (Gregory Peck) flashes back before his eyes as he lies dying from a wound suffered at the foot of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro. As he is tended to by his traveling companion, Helen (Susan Hayward), he recalls many things: his first wife and Paris literary inspiration, Cynthia Green (Ava Gardner); his second wife, Countess Liz (Hildegarde Neff); and his formative years with uncle Bill (Leo G. Carroll).