On a boat from Hong Kong, a trio of outsiders -- entertainer Julie Benson (Jane Russell), disgraced American serviceman Nick Cochran (Robert Mitchum) and tourist Lawrence C. Trumble (William Bendix) -- becomes involved with Vincent Halloran (Brad Dexter), a crooked casino boss from the exotic Portuguese colony of Macao. But when Halloran hears that one of the three new arrivals is working undercover for the police, the previously friendly gangster decides to bare his teeth.