During WW1, the destinies of British officers Michael Andrews and John Stevenson seem intertwined on the battle front as much as on a more personal level.

Joyce Reid, a wealthy young debutante, stows away on a cargo ship to China, carrying as passengers her dashing aviator sweetheart, Dan Bailey and and her munitions-producing father, E. J. Reid and an assortment of the usual south-seas characters along with some Asians with varying agendas. The cargo included a shipment of bombs and machine guns. She soon finds herself being held hostage and they will free her only if Dan agrees to pilot a bombing plane for some Chinese bandits.

Survivors of a shipwreck find refuge on a tropical island--but so do the ship's cargo of lions and tigers.