A secret extremist group hires a professional assassin known as “the Jackal” to kill French President Charles de Gaulle. The Jackal carefully prepares his mission, using fake identities and traveling across Europe to avoid detection.
At the same time, French police launch a desperate investigation to find the unknown killer before the assassination takes place. The story follows a tense race between the assassin and the investigators.
In the end, the police manage to identify and track him down just in time, and the Jackal is killed before he can complete his mission.