Robert Lomax [William Holden], an American architect, spends a year in Hong Kong hoping to earn a living as an artist. While crossing the harbor by ferry, he meets a stylish young woman, Suzie Wong [Nancy Kwan], who claims her father is wealthy. When the ferry docks, they part ways, but the encounter leaves Lomax curious about the city’s other side.
Looking for an affordable place to stay in Wan Chai, Lomax encounters Suzie again as she leaves the Nam Kok Hotel. The hotel owner initially claims he doesn’t know her, yet Lomax negotiates a monthly room rate and finds himself drawn to Suzie’s charisma. At the bar next to the hotel, he learns her real name and status: Suzie Wong, the bar’s most popular girl, known for her striking red cheongsam and infectious charm. His curiosity deepens as he observes how she moves through Hong Kong’s nightlife.
Lomax visits a Western bank and opens an account with Mr. O’Neill [Laurence Naismith], who also provides letters of introduction. The bank’s secretary and Lomax’s potential path to connections, Kay O’Neill [Sylvia Syms], is immediately attracted to him, setting up a subtle triangle between art, ambition, and desire.
To capture Suzie’s image, Lomax hires her to pose for his paintings. He eventually learns a painful truth: Suzie was forced into prostitution after being abandoned when she was ten years old. As Suzie opens up about her past, a mutual attraction grows, though Lomax grapples with the implications of their different worlds. Kay quietly pursues Lomax as well, adding a layer of tension to their fragile arrangement.
One night, after a party at Kay’s house, Lomax invites Kay to see his work but discovers Suzie on his bed. Kay departs, and Lomax, shaken, orders Suzie to leave. A later incident intensifies the complicity between them: a sailor Suzie had spurned earlier beats her in a stairwell, and Lomax intervenes by punching the sailor, marking a moment of raw, improvised protection.
To complicate matters further, Suzie agrees to become Ben Marlowe’s [Michael Wilding] mistress in an attempt to provoke Lomax into jealousy. When Ben reconciles with his wife, he asks Lomax to tell Suzie the news, pressuring Lomax to navigate the ethics of desire, loyalty, and care. After an honest confession, Lomax admits that he loves Suzie and asks her to stay with him, a turning point that shifts their relationship from opportunistic to intimate.
The couple begins living together in the Nam Kok Hotel, and Lomax returns to painting with renewed energy, his passion fed by Suzie’s presence. Curious about Suzie’s daily absences, Lomax follows her to a hillside path leading to a small, secluded house, where he discovers Suzie visiting her secret son. Lomax accepts the child as a part of her life, recognizing the depth of her burden and love.
Yet financial hardship looms as Lomax’s paintings struggle to sell. Both Kay and Suzie offer money to help him, but Lomax refuses. When Suzie pays the rent and suggests resuming work as a prostitute to support them, Lomax reacts harshly and drives her away. He soon regrets the moment, spending days searching for Suzie as Kay informs him that a London portrait of Suzie has sold. Lomax, realizing he has lost Suzie, resists Kay’s romantic advances, though she remains a compelling part of the orbit that surrounds him.
Eventually, Lomax finds Suzie outside the hotel. She asks for help to retrieve her son, who is in danger after heavy rains threaten their hillside home. The two fight through the rain toward the hillside, only to confront tragedy: the baby has been killed by a landslide. In the aftermath, they attend the funeral temple ceremony for the child, and Lomax asks Suzie to marry him. She accepts, choosing a life together amid fragile circumstances, and the two walk forward into an uncertain but shared future.
