Plantation owner Rip Reardon returns home to Morocco, his leg shattered from a war injury. Rip, who has kept his arrival secret from all but old friend Colonel Jacques Moussac, the chief of police of Port Afrique, explains to Moussac that he fears that his new wife Georgette will be repulsed by her now-handicapped husband. Moussac convinces Rip to go home to his wife, but on the way, Rip meets Pedro, a young pilot friend, who invites him for a drink. At Le Badinage nightclub, the club's porcine owner Nino offers to buy Rip's plantation. When Rip refuses his offer, Nino becomes truculent and Rip vehemently pushes him away. Upon reaching his house, Rip finds Georgette's dead body sprawled across the couch, a gun lying beside her on the floor. After Moussac and his assistant Abdul are summoned, Rip collapses in shock and the police begin to interrogate the servants. Among those present is Inez, a beautiful singer at Nino's club, who had been staying at Georgette's for the past few months. Since Inez once worked as a nurse, Moussac asks her to stay at the house to take care of the exhausted Rip. The murder weapon is assumed to have come from Rip's extensive gun collection, but when Moussac attempts to slip it back into the gun drawer, it does not fit into the slot. After declaring that Georgette's death was a suicide, Moussac goes to question artist Franz Vermes, the lover Georgette spurned six months earlier, but Franz sheds no light on the case. After Rip revives, Robert Blackton, his partner in the plantation, comes to visit with his wife Diane. When Robert begins to relate the plantation's financial woes, Rip, preoccupied by his wife's demise, interrupts and vows to find Georgette's murderer. The next day, Rip encounters Abdul in the street and offers him a bribe to see Moussac's files concerning Georgette's death. Although Abdul refuses the money, he gives Rip access to the dossier, which lists several meetings between Nino and Georgette in the past few weeks. When Rip questions Nino, Nino asserts that he was simply conferring with Georgette about selling the plantation. Soon after, Diane comes to visit Inez and suggests that she become romantically involved with Rip to divert his morbid thoughts. When Inez acts offended, Diane implies that she may have killed Georgette. At dusk, two Arab thugs follow Rip through the streets. After chasing away his pursuers, Rip reaches his courtyard and is shot at by an unseen assailant. Grabbing a rifle from his gun case, Rip fires back, sending the assailant scurrying into the woods for cover. When Inez returns home soon after, Rip suggests that she may have been the one trying to shoot him. Affronted, Inez threatens to leave, and Rip, realizing that he has insulted her, softens and asks her to stay. Inez then confides that Georgette became moody and agitated after learning that Rip was to be released from the hospital. The next morning, a cheerful Rip informs Inez that he plans to return to work and asks her to join him on a safari in search of a new stand of trees. When Rip discovers that Georgette's diamond necklace is missing, however, he accuses Inez of stealing it, sending Inez hurrying to Moussac's office to ask him for papers enabling her to leave the country. After Moussac refuses to issue her the proper documents, Inez takes refuge with the lecherous Nino. When Rip reports his assault to Moussac, the colonel admonishes him to stop taking the law into his own hands and then declares that Inez had nothing to do with Georgette's death and advises Rip to apologize to her. After Rip leaves, Moussac lists the whereabouts of all his suspects during the time of Rip's attack, and realizes that neither Robert nor Diane have alibis. At Le Badinage, Rip witnesses Nino presenting the missing necklace to Inez, and when Rip accuses him of theft, Nino produces the sales receipt, signed by Robert. Upon discovering that the Blacktons have abruptly left town, Rip hires Pedro's plane to scour the roads leading to the border in search of them. Moussac and Abdul follow in a jeep, hoping to reach the Blacktons before Rip. After spotting the Blacktons' camp, Rip orders Pedro to make a crash landing in the trees. Once the aircraft has landed, Rip leaves Pedro behind to make repairs while he continues on by himself. Upon reaching the camp, Rip holds the Blacktons at gunpoint and accuses Robert of stealing Georgette's necklace and then killing her. At that moment, Moussac arrives and announces that Diane killed Georgette and also hired Rip's assailants. Panicked, Diane pulls out the missing gun from Rip's collection and then confesses that she killed Georgette after discovering that Robert was planning to run away with her. As Diane rambles that Georgette gave the necklace to Robert to finance their disappearance, Abdul grabs the gun from Diane's hand and she breaks down in tears. Moussac then states that he knew of the affair all along, as did Inez. Finally believing in Inez's innocence, Rip returns to the club, packs Inez's suitcase and descends the stairs. As Inez sings a song, she turns to see Rip standing on the stairway and smiles at him. After Rip tells Inez that Diane murdered Georgette, they kiss.