David Locke (Jack Nicholson) is a television journalist making a documentary film on post-colonial Africa. To finish the film, he is in the Sahara desert seeking to meet with and interview rebel fighters involved in Chad's civil war. Struggling to find rebels to interview, he is frustrated when his Land Rover gets hopelessly stuck on a sand dune. After a long walk through the desert back to his hotel, a thoroughly glum Locke discovers that an Englishman, Robertson (Charles Mulvehill), who has also been staying there and with whom he had struck up a friendship, has died overnight at the hotel.
Locke decides to switch identities with Robertson; he is tired of his work, his marriage and his life, and sees an opportunity for a fresh start. Posing as Robertson, Locke reports his own death (Locke) at the front desk, where the hotel manager mistakes Locke for Robertson, and the plan goes off without a hitch.
In London, Locke's wife Rachel (Jenny Runacre) has been having an affair. She feels guilt-ridden and torn when she is informed of her husband's death. She approaches Locke's friend, Martin (Ian Hendry), a producer at the BBC, in an attempt to get in touch with Robertson so that she may learn more about her husband's last days. Meanwhile, "Robertson" (Locke) has flown off to Europe with the dead man's belongings, including his appointment book.
Locke soon learns that Robertson was gunrunning for the rebels whom, as a reporter, Locke had been trying to contact in the desert. When he goes to check out an airport locker listed in Robertson's diary, Locke is tracked down by the rebels' point man in Europe. He is there to complete the weapons sale. Since neither man has ever seen the other before, Locke escapes the meeting without being discovered. He gives the men the documents from Robertson's locker, and accepts the first down-payment for the arms deal Robertson had set up before his death.
Later Locke accidentally spots Martin on a street in Barcelona, as the latter tries to track Robertson down on behalf of Rachel. Locke backtracks and at this point bumps into an architecture student (Maria Schneider) while trying to hide nearby. He asks the girl to fetch his belongings so he won't be seen at his hotel, where Martin has apparently camped out in order to catch up with "Robertson". Martin overhears that she is collecting Locke's baggage, and requests that she take him to meet "Robertson". She manages to evade him, and leaves with Locke as he drives off from Barcelona. They become lovers. While trying to explain his recent behaviour, Locke confesses that he has stolen a dead man's identity.
Locke is flush with cash from the down payment on the arms he cannot deliver, but is drawn to keep the meetings listed in Robertson's book. In the meantime, Rachel has received Locke's belongings, which were returned from Africa. Having heard from Martin of his unsuccessful chase of the elusive "Robertson", Rachel receives a shock when she opens Locke's passport, only to discover the photo of Robertson pasted inside. She now realises why "Robertson" was so elusive, and heads off to Spain to track down Locke.
Locke begins fleeing from the Spanish police, who have been brought in by Rachel on the search for Robertson. The girl is loyal and helps him evade them, providing rational advice. Locke sends the girl away on a bus, saying he'll meet her in Tangiers later.
Locke checks in to the Hotel de la Gloria[2] in the Spanish town of Osuna, province of Seville. Upon checking in, he finds out that the girl has already booked them a double room. Locke then recounts a story of a blind man who regains his sight only to commit suicide after seeing the ugliness of the world, before he asks her to leave. Government agents in pursuit of Robertson arrive at the hotel, and Locke's assassination takes place off screen in a seven-minute long take-tracking shot which begins in a hotel room, travels out into a dusty parking area and tracks back into the hotel room.[3] One of the agents can be noticed in the reflection on shutter's glass on the right: he enters Locke's room, puts right hand in his inside pocket, then disappears from the frame, and a single shot is heard. The agents leave the scene minutes before the police and both women find Locke motionless in bed. His wife Rachel says she "never knew" the dead man, while the girl identifies him as Robertson.
What country is reporter David Locke sent?