The American engineer McAllan is appointed site manager for a major project in Asia. He is to oversee the branch line of the railway line from Calcutta to Beijing. One day, the railway company in question called him to Calcutta for an interview: they were planning to stop running the branch line for cost reasons. However, McAllan is passionate about the project and uses all his powers of persuasion not to just call off construction. In fact, the construction work will continue, and the engineer is even willing to vouch for it with his private fortune.