Elizabeth Lipp visits Istanbul, where a traveling fair displays replicas of treasures from the grand Topkapı Palace and she becomes quietly drawn to the emerald-encrusted dagger once worn by Sultan Mahmud I. After this initial fascination, she leaves Turkey for Paris and quietly recruits Walter Harper, a former lover and a Swiss criminal mastermind, to orchestrate a daring theft of the dagger. Together they assemble a team of amateurs with no criminal history: Cedric Page, a meticulous master of all things mechanical; Giulio, the silent acrobat known as the “Human Fly”; and Hans Fischer, a strong counterweight who can provide the muscle the plan will need. The cast list behind the plan is almost comically disparate, yet they share a common thread of unlikely expertise that could pull off a flawless heist.
In Kavala, Greece, the scheme expands: Arthur Simon Simpson, a small-time hustler, is hired by Elizabeth and Walter to drive a rented car across the border into Istanbul to carry hidden explosives and firearms for the operation. Simpson, who doesn’t yet know the full scope of the plan, is detained by Turkish Customs on suspicion of plotting trouble during a military parade. The situation takes a sharper turn when Major Ali Tufan recruits Simpson to spy on Elizabeth and Walter for the Turkish police, turning the car driver into a potential double agent. As the crew continues to assemble, Cedric drives the car in Istanbul and learns from a policeman that only the person who brought the car into the country is legally allowed to drive it, complicating their precarious position. Throughout their travels, Simpson manages to slip messages hidden inside an empty cigarette pack to his police handlers, keeping the authorities on their radar.
The plan itself hinges on entering the Treasury of the Topkapı Palace from a rooftop window. Hans Fischer would lower Giulio on a rope to lift the dagger from its display and replace it with a convincing replica, all without touching the floor, while Walter Harper would use a rope to lift the large glass case that encloses the dagger. Yet misfortune strikes when Hans Fischer injures his hands during a scuffle with the drunken cook, Gerven the Cook. With Hans incapacitated, Simpson steps in as a substitute and ultimately confesses that he has been working undercover for the Turkish police. Faced with the threat of arrest if they leave Turkey or attempt to use their equipment, Walter pivots to an improvised plan: they will still steal the dagger but avoid using weapons and then “surrender” to the authorities, insisting they found explosives in their car to explain their presence.
To establish a believable alibi while the police tail them, the gang attends a crowded Turkish wrestling match. From there, Walter, Simpson, and Giulio slip away to the Topkapı Palace, and that evening Elizabeth and Cedric create a distraction by manipulating a lighthouse keeper to alter the timing of the searchlight that illuminates the Treasury’s wall. In a tense sequence, Walter, Simpson, and Giulio manage to seize the dagger, while a bird unexpectedly flies into the room and becomes trapped just as Giulio closes the window. The dagger is handed off to Joseph, the proprietor of the traveling fair display, who will smuggle it out of Turkey.
The group heads to police headquarters, presenting themselves as those who have discovered weapons in the car. The inspector asks Simpson to corroborate Elizabeth and Walter’s whereabouts, and Simpson’s stance wavers before he gives them the alibi. Just as the police prepare to release them, the trapped bird activates the alarm and alerts officers across Istanbul. Major Tufan confronts the thieves with the incriminating evidence, displaying Simpson’s last message that links the entire scheme to the heist. With a wry line—“A little bird told me”—the truth comes to light, and the gang is finally sent to a Turkish prison.
From there, Elizabeth devises a bold new plan: to steal the Russian Imperial Crown Jewels in the Kremlin. The trail of events shifts to a new horizon, and some time later the group, having ostensibly escaped from jail, walks through snow in a Russian city, leaving the audience to ponder what comes next for this audacious band of would-be thieves.
