We see who its owners have been, how they used the violin, what part it played in their lives. It crosses the centuries, and continents. Passion, lust, betrayal, deceit, the red violin has seen and inspired the best and worst of human nature. Tragedy, triumph, compassion, art, revolution, espionage, subterfuge, faith, it has survived, it has been the vehicle for violence and vision. Occasionally the languages are at cross purposes - one character speaks to another in a language he knows the other doesn't understand.
Characters show up, flame across the screen, and then disappear.
They disappear, that is, from history. But they stay as part of the story. Each episode has a counterpart in the Tarot cards, and then another counterpart in the auction. Each episode, with its counterparts, becomes a thread in the narrative. Alone, each episode is interesting in its own right, skillfully told.