With a view to escaping both boredom as a junior general practitioner and unwanted womanly advances, young Dr. Simon Sparrow (Sir Dirk Bogarde) becomes a medical officer on "the Lotus", an all-male cargo ship. As soon as he sets foot on-board, Simon encounters various eccentric characters (including quick-tempered, authoritarian, whisky-addicted Captain Hogg (James Robertson Justice)) and gets involved in many an embarrassing situation (including seasickness). In Rio he gets to know Hélène Colbert (Brigitte Bardot) , a sexy young French singer and falls under her spell. When woman hater Hogg is forced to take on two female characters, Muriel Mallet (Brenda de Banzie), the daughter of the shipping company and her friend, Hélène on his freighter, Simon is delighted.