On the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, authorities in the Philippine capital of Manila fear an imminent Japanese invasion and advise evacuation. Claire Snyder, an American nightclub entertainer, her adopted daughter Dian and her maid Lolita await Claire’s fiancé, U.S. Army sergeant John Phillips, whom Claire hopes will help them leave the city. When John arrives, he tells Claire that he is unable to help as his unit has been ordered into active duty, but promises to meet her in Pilar where they can be married. After the Japanese bomb Manila, Claire, Dian and Lolita take refuge in the hills where Pacio, one of the guerrillas fighting with John’s unit, finds them and takes them to him. After a hurried wedding ceremony, performed in Spanish by a local priest, John heads for Bataan, leaving the women in Pacio’s care. Later, after Corregidor falls to the Japanese, Claire decides to send Dian and Lolita back to Manila with Pacio while she attempts to find John. In the jungle, Claire is rescued from potential discovery by the Japanese by U.S. corporal John Boone who, with a few others, has become separated from his outfit and is organizing a guerrilla unit. When Claire learns that American and Allied prisoners of the Bataan and Corregidor conflicts are being forced to walk to Cabanatuan, she and Boone find the last remaining members of the infamous death march and discover that John is among them. After Claire witnesses John killed by a Japanese guard as he attempts to get a drink of water, she resolves to help Boone destroy the Japanese in any way she can. Boone suggests that if Claire were in Japanese-occupied Manila, she could become a vital informant, advising him where next to strike with his guerrilla force. Boone, whose code name is “Compadre,” names Claire “High Pockets” after the style of blouse she wears. Claire then returns to Manila and adopts the identity of an Italian friend who has been killed in the bombing and there also reunites with Dian and Lolita. With the help of her former employer, Ho Sang, Claire opens a nightclub, which caters exclusively to Japanese officers whom she flatters and charms and, claiming to be uninvolved in the war, befriends their Chief of Intelligence, Col. Masamoto. Thus, Claire is able to not only ferry food and supplies to the guerrillas via her patriotic employees, but also information about Japanese military movements. After Masamoto reveals to Claire that a locally run shoe factory is actually a front for the production of munitions, she passes the information to Boone and his men destroy the building. Although several guerillas are captured, none reveal the identity of “High Pockets,” enabling Claire to continue her underground activities and assistance to American and Allied prisoners of war for ten months. She is even able to persuade a Japanese naval officer to delay his ship’s departure by performing a fan dance for him while Boone and his men transmit information to Army headquarters that results in the ship’s destruction by bombs and torpedoes. Eventually, Masamoto discovers that Claire is “High Pockets” and has her arrested. Claire endures beatings and is brutally tortured in prison, but refuses to identify Compadre and his guerrillas. Masamoto informs Claire that American troops are expected to invade Manila soon but that she will be shot before they can reach her. However, Boone and his men stage a daring raid on the prison and save Claire just as Masamoto is about to shoot her. Later, on the recommendation of General Douglas MacArthur, Claire is awarded the Medal of Freedom for her meritorious wartime service.