Nurse Mary Gordon left her hospital to join her stepmother, Lucy, in Malaya. She was devoted to Lucy, recently so tragically widowed, but the main purpose of her visit was to learn first-hand the circumstances in which her father had died. The first person she met in Malaya was Dr. Malcolm MacLeod, whose studied reserve contrasted to markedly with the charm he unguardedly revealed - a charm which Mary was to find irresistible. Yet why dod the residents of Pulang Dal ostracize this tall young Highlander in charge of the native hospital? Why was Lucy worried by Mary's growing friendship with him, and why did her father's handsome partner, Rupert Vyner, seek to bring about his dismissal? This is an enchanting story of a man who, in obstinately refusing to justify his past, nearly broke the heart of the woman who loved and trusted him.