THE RED VIOLIN follows the unusual journey of an original and unique violin as it survives three centuries, ultimately turning up at a present-day auction in Montreal. The violin transforms all those who play it into a Svengali, from traveling Gypsies to a famous concert violinist in England. The mysterious object also narrowly avoids confiscation in Communist China, and seems to always survive the different lives of those it touches. In the present day it becomes the subject of fascination for a violin historian, played by Samuel L. Jackson, who discovers that he has stumbled upon the much sought after Red Violin, leading him to consider a deception of his own kind as the film nears its climax.