John Foster, a teak plantation manager in Burma, is bitterly disappointed when his fiancée Alice, whom he has not seen in four years, returns his ring and tells him that she cannot wait for him any longer. He then goes to Mandalay, a notorious red light district, where he meets Jeanie, a bar "hostess" and entertainer, whom he marries after a boozy week together. Jeanie is thrilled by her first chance at love and a respectable life, but her happiness is short-lived, for soon after her arrival at John's home, Kenneth Grainger, a fellow plantation manager and John's rowdy friend, recognizes Jeanie as a dubious acquaintance from Mandalay. John resents the reminder of Jeanie's shady past, while Jeanie becomes upset when Kenneth intimates that John must be ashamed of her because he has not introduced her to his friends. John attempts to soothe Jeanie, then leaves with Kenneth to hunt a tiger sighted in their district. John lays a trap for the tiger but daredevil Kenneth shoots and wounds it. Sometime later, Jeanie is alone when Mary Trevor, the pretty wife of John's employer, arrives to visit John. Mary assumes that Jeanie is John's fiancée from England, and becomes sarcastic once she realizes the truth. John returns home and accompanies Mary back to the trail, leaving Jeanie to stew in her jealousy. As they ride, John scrutinizes the snobbish, sly Mary, and then returns home with renewed love for unpretentious Jeanie. When he returns, however, he finds Jeanie dancing with Kenneth. John is threatening Kenneth when a servant alerts them that a native in the village has been killed by a tiger. They realize that the killer is the tiger that Kenneth carelessly wounded, and the hunt begins. Days later, the tiger has not yet been caught, and a deadly fever is spreading among the natives, who are afraid to go to the river and therefore are drinking contaminated water. John is at the village tending to the sick when Kenneth goes to see Jeanie. He apologizes for his earlier behavior and spends the night on the porch. The next day, John returns home, finds Kenneth's horse in the stable and is in a jealous rage when Kenneth scares off the killer tiger sneaking up behind him. In the confusion, John does not notice that Kenneth did not spend the night inside the house, and has a quarrel with Jeanie, who announces that she is leaving. After John returns to the village, Kenneth is preparing to go away with Jeanie when he falls into a tiger trap and breaks his arm. Jeanie finds him and rushes to John for help, but he coldly tells her that he is too busy. Jeanie goes back to Kenneth and is about to be attacked by the tiger when John arrives and shoots it. John collapses from fever, waking sometime later to be told by Mary that Jeanie is leaving. John rushes to the boat she is on, and once Kenneth sees the concern Jeanie and John still have for each other, he graciously bows out. John promises to take Jeanie to England to meet his parents, and they sail off to a bright future together.