Malaya in the late 1960s was at last casting off the yoke of British colonial rule. But Harry 'Tiger' Sullivan, a retired military officer, had made his career in Malaya for almost two decades had nowhere else to go.

Distinguished ex-serviceman Harry Sullivan has a comfortable life in Malaya, until the arrival of Bob Beresford - a brash and handsome Australian.

Eighteen-year-old Melissa Tremayne is like the daughter Sullivan never had. But, bored with the slow pace of British expatriate life, she is determined to win Bob Beresford's not-so-fatherly affection.

A rivalry starts to develop between the two men, intensified by the appearance of a man-eating tiger. Bob wants the glory of killing the beast, while Melissa is pursuing a different kind of trophy: Bob himself. Soon, Sullivan finds himself drawn into a trial of manhood that he is unwilling to take.