On a journey to Africa, an emotionally disturbed woman witnesses the secret of restoring lost youth - unfortunately, it entails regularly sacrificing young men. Dr. Paul Talbot, noxious endocrinologist, is researching ways to make people look younger. Mala, a 140-year-old African-born woman who was kidnapped and enslaved in America, seeks him out and offers him her tribe's secret (special orchid pollen) of not only longevity, but also restoration of youthful appearance. In return she wants him to pay her way back home where she will soon die. He gives her the money and divulges her secret to his emotionally needy, dipsomaniacal, and somewhat aged wife, June, whom he loathes, and hires a guide to take him to Mala's village. June goes along.