Sydney, 1942, and in a nation threatened by a Japanese invasion, with husbands absent and sleek GIs present, a spirit of recklessness takes hold. Frank Darragh, an innocent young curate, finds the line between saving others' souls and losing his own begins to blur as he beomes entangled with a menage a trois and dangerously attracted to a married woman whose husband is a POW, who confesses that she has been tempted by a charismatic American sergeant. Before Father Darragh can dissuade her, she is murdered. Suspecting the sergeant, yet believing he might save his soul, Darragh gets drawn ever further into a morass his complacent superiors deplore and towards a showdown that could cost him his life.