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.

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.