In 1973 Rome, John Paul Getty III, the heir and younger member of an oil tycoons' clan, is kidnapped by the Italian Mafia in order to get a ransom.

In 1973 Rome, John Paul Getty III, the heir and younger member of an oil tycoons' clan, is kidnapped by the Italian mafia in order to get a ransom. On the face of it, his grandfather seems not interested at all in having him back, but he gives his reasons, for better or for worse.

The wealthy Getty family had everything, but when the oldest grandchild of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, John Paul Getty III, is kidnapped in Rome, he refuses to pay the ransom as he suspects it was staged by his grandson to extract money from him.