The Passenger is Antonioni's first feature film in nearly four years. Jack Nicholson plays an experienced and disillusioned television reporter. He has adjusted to the limitations of his job, yet he is aware of his own inadequacy in probing through stories of disaster and tragedy. His last chance to take on a new and meaningful role comes with the death of a British adventurer in a small North African hotel. He assumes his identity and becomes involved in a struggle for third world liberation. Maria Schneider shares in a disinterested passion for creating the conditions of a new society, and she becomes a foil for his own anxiety. His position is complicated by the actions of his estranged wife in London, who receives news of her husband's death, and is determined to find the adventurer who last saw him alive. Their paths converge as the anti-liberation forces gather for the kill. . .