Guy Van Stratten, a small-time American smuggler working in Europe, is at the scene of the murder of a man named Bracco. The dying man whispers two names that he claims are very valuable, one of which is Gregory Arkadin. Using this small bit of information and lots of bluffing, Van Stratten manages to meet the apparent multi-millionaire business magnate and socialite Arkadin, and Arkadin then hires Van Stratten to research his own past, of which he claims to have no memory before 1927.
Traveling across the world, Van Stratten pieces together Arkadin's past from the few remaining people who knew Arkadin as a gangster in post-World War I Europe, but in each case the individuals he speaks to end up dead. Van Stratten ultimately discovers the truth about Arkadin's past, leading to a climactic race to Spain between the two, with disastrous consequences.
Howmany names are by the dying man?
two