Gregory Peck plays Monsignor O'Flaherty, part of the Vatican during the Nazi occupation of Rome during World War 2. While the Catholic Church is taking a "sit and watch" approach, O'Flaherty is working covertly to help downed Allied airmen, escaped POWs, and Jewish residents evade the Nazis and get to safety. The new SS officer put in charge of Rome, Colonel Herbert Kappler (Christopher Plummer), suspects O'Flaherty, but has to tread lightly with Vatican City being considered neutral.
This is apparently based on a true story. O'Flaherty was a real Monsignor in Vatican City, and he did work to help people stay clear of the Nazis. I don't know how accurate this portrayal is, but the movie turns it into a cat-and-mouse game (with life or death stakes, to be clear) between the two of them. There's a big white line that encircles the Vatican, which the Nazis can't cross if they're going to continue to give the appearance of respecting the Vatican's neutrality. Within that, O'Flaherty is safe, but once Kappler's had enough, it becomes almost a prison.
O'Flaherty goes to visit an ambassador, and has to narrowly escape capture when the SS shows up and starts searching the building for him. Kappler eventually stations snipers in windows all around that white line, just waiting for O'Flaherty to cross it. There's a lengthy scene where O'Flaherty walks right up to the line, then paces back and forth, watching Kappler (who grabs one of the rifles and watches O'Flaherty through the scope.) O'Flaherty gets one of the nuns to bring him a variety of outfits, and he starts sneaking out in disguise.
It seems dodgy to expect Kappler to respect that white line, given how often the movie shows his tendency to change the rules whenever he chooses. Disregard embassies, demand the Jewish neighborhoods produce 100 pounds of gold, or else. They meet the demand (with a hand from O'Flaherty), and then the Nazis toss the neighborhood anyway, dragging men off for forced labor, clubbing the protesting wives and mothers with rifle butts. The SS catch one of the priests that works with O'Flaherty, and when he won't talk under torture, has him sent to an Italian prison, to force Italian soldiers to execute him. When they all miss, and their commanding officer can't bring himself to do it, Kappler does it himself.
The movie also frequently cuts to brief glimpses to Kappler's life at home with his wife and children. The contrast between them having a happy Christmas in an opulently decorated home, while O'Flaherty's sneaking through alleys at night to dodge patrols, or escaped Allied soldiers are being hauled off at checkpoints, or trying to climb out the window before SS goons kick the door in. That's all to set up a big moment at the very end, where we see how steadfast O'Flaherty is in his beliefs.
Peck has the air of gravity the role seems to require, steadfast in his belief that he has to do these things, even at the risk of his own life. And he lets just enough anger show through at times to keep O'Flaherty from being entirely sainted. Plummer plays Kappler, I don't know. Sometimes he seems like this is just a job. Like he doesn't really care one way or another, and would just as soon let O'Flaherty do whatever he wanted, except his orders say otherwise. Then sometimes he seems like he believes in the Reich, that it's going to be different than the Roman Empire that is nothing more than relics and statues now, and last a thousand years. (Although, even if the Roman Empire lasted 1000 years, it would still be gone by 1944.) Maybe that's just when he's trying to intimidate people, make them feel it's hopeless to resist.
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