All but a prisoner in the exotic Malayan retreat she shares with her Chinese financier husband, Yuan Sing, British singer Sadie Merivale begins a dangerous affair with nearby plantation owner Harold Marquess. But when Sing discovers his wife’s betrayal, he plots to regain his honor by slowly torturing her lover to death.

The French owner of an antique shop, Desius Heiss, has become disillusioned with society since his torture as a prisoner on Devil's Island, since when he has allowed his shop to become a front for criminal activity, and he himself is a receiver of stolen goods.