Set in 1949–50 in Hong Kong, it tells the story of a married, but separated, American reporter Mark Elliot (played by William Holden), who falls in love with a Eurasian doctor originally from China, Han Suyin (played by Jennifer Jones), only to encounter prejudice from her family and from Hong Kong society.

A widowed Eurasian doctor Han Suyin (Jones) falls in love with a married-but-separated American correspondent Mark Elliott (Holden) in Hong Kong, during the period of China's Civil War in the late 1940s.

[4] Parts of the film were shot on location in Hong Kong by second-unit director Otto Lang, which was unusual for its time.

Two weeks of location filming in Hong Kong had been completed before the final screenplay had been finished by screenwriter John Patrick.

[2] In Ireland and the Canadian province of Quebec, local censors did not like the suggestions of divorce and cut the film to make it appear that Holden was single.

The song was subsequently recorded by The Four Aces and also by Jerry Vale, Nat King Cole, Danny Williams, and Frank Sinatra, among others.

Francis also recorded the song with its original English lyrics, and a German-language version, Sag, weißt du denn, was Liebe ist.

The song's lyrics relate: Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living, The golden crown that makes a man a king.

In the bittersweet final scene on the hilltop, the song (heard on the sound track) recalls the earlier encounters: Once on a high and windy hill, In the morning mist, Two lovers kissed, And the world stood still.