Russian countess Sofia Belinskya (Richardson) and her family have lost their state and fortune as a result of the Revolution. Living in exile in Shanghai with her daughter, the countess works as a hostess and companion lady in a dance club where she entertains all kinds of men, dancing and chatting with them. There, she meets a blind American diplomat, Todd Jackson (Fiennes), a nice kind man with whom she begins a friendship that could turn into love anytime. Years later, Jackson sets up a glamorous club, called The White Countess, taking Sofia with him to work there as a companion lady. It is then that the Japanese invasion takes place and threatens to shake their dreams.