Capt. Tom Reynolds (Frank Sinatra) is the leader of a U.S. military intelligence group stationed in Burma, training Kachin revolutionary troops to fight against encroaching Japanese forces during World War II. Tom leaves on another mission, and when he returns, he discovers that his camp has been overrun by Chinese guerrillas who have killed many of his American and Kachin friends. Enraged, Tom leads an unauthorized mission into China to search for the men who killed his fellow soldiers.