In this drama, William Holden plays Ferris, an American soldier who led troops in Malaya during World War II. After the end of the war, Ferris opts to stay in Malaya to seek his fortune. He invests in land there and does quite well, but soon his new life with his girlfriend, a local girl named Dhana (Capucine), is disrupted by local politics. Candace (Susannah York), the daughter of Malaya's British governor, is infatuated with Ferris, which puts a crimp in his relationship with Dhana. And one of his old buddies from the war, Ng (Tetsuro Tamba), reemerges with some disturbing news -- following the war, he spent several years in the Soviet Union and is now working with Communist-backed guerilla forces. Ferris doesn't want to help the British capture his old friend, but his friend seems to have no such scruples about framing his buddy Ferris. The Seventh Dawn was adapted from the novel The Durian Tree by Michael Koen.