Expatriate Rick Blaine, a cynical nightclub owner in Casablanca, discovers that his ex-lover Ilsa, who abandoned him years before, has arrived in Casablanca with her Resistance leader husband, Victor. With the Germans on Victor's trail, Ilsa has come to the club to beg Rick for the precious letters of transit that have come into his possession. The documents would allow Victor to escape Casablanca and continue the fight against Fascism.