Sweet and innocent Joan (Phyllis Barrington)finds herself working in a dive frequented by sailors on the Chinese waterfront section. Heroic Doug (John Harron) comes in and asks her why a swell girl like her is working in such a low-life place. She quits but the head of one of the Chinese tongs, Charley Wong, (played by Jason Robards Sr., billed as he was always billed as just Jason Robards), takes a liking to her and gets her to join the local Salvation Army. And then she and Doug get involved in a tong-war.