The film is based on real events. The action takes place during the Sino-Japanese War. The protagonist, an American mortician John, goes to the Catholic church in Nanjing to prepare a priest for burial. Upon arrival he finds himself the only man among female students of the monastery and prostitutes from a nearby brothel in the midst of hostilities. Having got into this position, he pretends to be a priest and tries to save both groups from horrors of the invasion of the Japanese army...