7 Women

In 1935, the Chinese side of the China-Mongolia border is a lawless region because of the fighting between and among the feuding warlords and marauding bandits. American Christian missionaries led by unbending, strict Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton) have set up a mission in the area. She believes that because they are American and doing God's work, the warlords and bandits will leave them unharmed and keep the potential bloodshed outside of their mission walls. They have had troubles trying to recruit a doctor, especially needed as one of their own, the constantly-worried Florrie Pether (Betty Field), wife of the only male teacher in the camp, mama's-boy Charles Pether (Eddie Albert), is at an advanced stage of pregnancy, complicated by the fact that she's near menopause and this is her first pregnancy. When they eventually recruit a doctor, they don't realize that Dr. D.R. Cartwright is a non-religious emancipated female until she arrives. Dr. Cartwright (Anne Bancroft) has her own reasons for taking the job despite her secular background. She and Andrews are immediately at odds with each other, even more so as time goes on as Cartwright does things in the name of preserving life which may be against Christian morals. The missionaries and Cartwright end up battling potential disease entering the camp and protecting themselves against one specifically ruthless Mongolian bandit, Tunga Khan (Mike Mazurki), who has already destroyed the British mission in the area. But the eternal battle may be for the soul of Emma Clark (Sue Lyon), the youngest and least-experienced missionary, who is fascinated by Cartwright, against Andrews' warnings that she is the devil incarnate.