Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) is instructed by her order to oversee the establishment of a new school and hospital at Mopu in the Himalayas. Sister Clodagh goes with a team of four. Once they reach there, the agent of the General, Dean (David Farrar) meets them and tells them that they will not be successful here. The atmosphere is inhospitable but they still try to do their work. Dean brings a girl Kanchi (Jean Simmons) to live with them and then the General’s nephew (Sabu) also comes to stay there, what makes Clodagh uneasy. Cladogh is recovering from a lost love but she gets attracted to Dean. So does Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron), one of her four companions who is also mentally unstable and gets aggressive when Dean rejects her.