A war hero forced to participate in a smuggling ring meets a prostitute in the postwar ruins of Manila.
Hassan, the son of a tribe chief of the Badjaos, a pagan, sea-dwelling Filipino tribe, meets and falls for Bala Amai, the niece of the chief of the Tausugs, an Islamic, land-dwelling tribe. Although the Hassan is willing to give up his lifestyle for Bala Amai and vice versa, the Tausugs plot to break up the union of the happy couple.
After the fall of the Philippines in World War II, the Japanese discover that Gen. MacArthur ordered millions of dollars in silver dumped in Manila Bay in order that it not fall into enemy hands. Among the prisoners the Japanese have taken are two American U.S. Navy deep-sea divers, whom they then force to dive in search of the sunken treasure.
