the film centres around a race against the clock to locate three blood donors each able to donate one pint of a rare type of blood to save the life of a young girl suffering from leukaemia. the doctor in charge of treating the girl enlists the assistance of police officer inspector lane in order to assist in the search for suitable donors. the three donors are each from very different backgrounds, a white boxer, a black sailor, and finally a murderer who has been on the run from the police for a number of years. the boxer's donation is fairly straightforward, having only to avoid his manager, the sailor's donation is more complicated, following a war-time incident where a dying nazi soldier refused to accept his offer of a donation which he attributes to racism, he initially refuses to donate, until it is explained to him that the nazi officer refused his donation for reasons that can be attributed to the nazi's master race ideology.