Guided by their maverick sociology professor, three students set up separate experiments around the city to prove his "Tetris" theory of chaos: that human nature inevitably deteriorates from order to anarchy.

Still reeling from the painful breakup of his marriage to screen siren Rita Hayworth, filmmaker Orson Welles makes his way to Rome, where he gets pulled into a tangled political plot involving murder and mysterious motives. A beautiful actress proves a tempting distraction. But if they want to stay alive, Welles and his young Italian driver need to stay focused.