A French photojournalist lands a coveted assignment that leads her from Paris to the jungles of Malaysia, through the neon-lit streets of Bangkok's red light district, and onto the temple-strewn plains of Burma (Myanmar). In pursuit of a link between her grandfather's disappearance and that of the famous American silk baron, Jim Thompson, who vanished a quarter of a century before, she joins a tour group that includes a jewel thief, a smuggler, a Buddhist monk, an American family on holiday, a former OSS agent, and a meddlesome couple from Texas, armed with a video camera, who unwittingly film a murder.