Ex-U.S. Army intelligence officer, Michael Hazzard, and the only foreign private detective in Japan, is offered $10,000 to deliver a cheap $5.00 string of Buddhist prayer beads to someone in Saigon, who will be identified by the phrase, “There is terror in the bamboo only for the wicked." When he finally agrees, he finds himself the target in a bizarre plot of Oriental intrigue when he is taken hostage and brought to a guerrilla camp in the jungles of North Viet Nam.