In the wake of Japan's surrender, American expatriate Joseph Barrett (Humphrey Bogart) hopes to revive the Tokyo club he ran before he left to fight in World War II. Soon Barrett discovers that Trina (Florence Marly) -- the wife he assumed was dead -- has married another man and has a young daughter. As an overwhelmed Barrett struggles to obtain approval for residency in Japan, he becomes the blackmail target of Baron Kimura (Sessue Hayakawa), a crime boss with a dirty job for him to do.