sidekick, Sanchez, he attends the Portman funeral. For a moment, as he scans the crowd, his vision is arrested by the sight of a lovely blonde enjoying the burial rites. He watches her leave in the company of a Chinese man, and makes a note to find out more about her. Samantha travels to the Chinese quarter to negotiate her new contract with Chow, an underworld businesswoman. They arrange for three "hits"-to be accomplished by Samantha without interference or advice. Meanwhile, de Ia Torres, sparked by a picture of Samantha in the society pages, has tracked her to the Manila Polo Club. While Samantha suns herself on her yacht and conducts business by phone with her European stockbroker, Domingo discusses the lady and her yacht at the marina. He is impressed to learn that she is a born sailor who manages the ship herself, without benefit of a crew.

The scene shifts to the elegant residence of Justin Stockwell, patron of the arts and collector of sculpture. Samantha Fox, in the guise of Melinda Burroughs, writer for Nouveau Art Magazine, is gaining entrance to the estate. Stockwell, an arrogant patrician, is intrigued by this bespectacled, severely dressed young woman. In a test of knowledge, he finds her both witty and intelligent, and agrees to a feature-story and photos. Later that night, while Samantha views slides of the Stockwell manse, she becomes aware of unusual sounds. She edges to the yacht's deck, and karate chops a wet-suited private detective as he attempts to climb aboard. She then returns to continue her "research."

The next day, Samantha journeys to visit an ancient Chinese gentleman. Lu Chang. He is a very old friend, and they discuss the ways of the world in reserved Oriental fashion. He then presents her with a vial of clear liquid to aid her in her mission: the destruction of Justin Stockwell.

Detective de Ia Torres receives a teletype from Miami, Samantha's last resting place. He learns that she is independently wealthy, a world-traveller who was orphaned at 15. Back at the Stockwell estate, a new Filipina maid enters Justin's lair to assist him with his powder-and-salts bath ceremony. The maid bumps into him accidentally, and he shocks her with an outburst of gutter Tagalog, the language of the Manila slums. But Stockwell is not unaware of the charms of his new maid as he eases into the luxury of the bath and calls for champagne. With deft movements, the maid pours a vial of liquid into the swirling bath water and watches complacently as Stockwell realizes, with horror, that he is becoming completely paralyzed. The maid then reveals the mystery to Justin Stockwell, international smuggler. She removes the wig and make-up of a native girl to become Melinda Burroughs/Samantha Fox. Then, she stuffs towels in the jacuzzi drain, watches him drown, re-garbs herself as the Filipina maid, and leaves as quietly as she entered.

With another murder of a prominent crook on their hands, the police escalate the investigation. De Ia Torres interviews Stockwell's maid, who'd received a call from the agency to stay home, and the agency manager, who'd never placed the call. He gets a lab report, revealing traces of brown make-up on a bath towel and a mysterious substance in the bath water. He also receives word from Nouveau Art magazine that their Melinda Burroughs in no way resembles the blonde writer who interviewed Stockwell.

Soon afterwards, Samantha Fox and Domingo de Ia Torres meet at a society party. Domingo executes a ruse to get her away from a crowd of admirers: he plays cop, and she responds by playing criminal. It becomes apparent that each has met his (or her) match. The tension and attraction between them heightens when de Ia Torres beckons a sketch artist to draw the attractive Samantha with horn-rimmed glasses and a severe hair-do. Samantha meets his implicit challenge by telling him the whereabouts of the private detective whom Domingo had sent to reconnoiter the yacht. Their relationship develops: they hunt wild boar together, testing each other's shooting prowess and love of the hunt. On a shady Manila street, they are accosted by four thugs; Samantha watches while Domingo demolishes three of them, then jumps in to rescue him from the fourth.

Samantha then "leaves town," in order to visit the luxurious beauty spa of Madame Ruanda, ageing coquette and infamous white slave trader. Madam~e Ruanda is captivated by Samantha/Solvang's charms and invites her to an intimate meeting. When Mme. Ruanda is woozy from drink and anticipation, Samantha proceeds to execute her, using one of Ruanda's own beauty schemes. While Samantha engineers the Madame's electrocution, she forces her to watch a videotape of the usual electrolytic/mudbath rejuvenation ritual.

Meanwhile, de Ia Torres and his team of investigators have decided that an Asian syndicate is behind the slayings, and that one or both of two island drug lords are next on the "hit" list. He orders 24 hour surveillance of these two criminals. He also resumes his dates with Samantha, marveling at the excitement a bloody cockfight arouses in her, and wondering at her nonchalance upon seeing the two drug lords at a jai alai game. Samantha is attracted to Domingo; she is also attracted to the back room of the Bulacon Art Gallery, where they sell interesting pieces of weaponry.

At a Manila nightspot, de Ia Torres, Samantha and Rossimo, one of the druglords, have an interesting confrontation; Domingo watches, amazed and amused, as Samantha dances with a potential victim. Another confrontation follows that night, when Samantha and Domingo succumb to each others charms in the bedroom of her yacht. After violent but tender lovemaking, Domingo learns that her parents were killed by gangsters; he asks her to give up her career as a hit woman and become his wife. She is tempted to say yes, but declines. There contest for the lives of the narcotics barons resumes.

Samantha calls both Calderon and Rossimo, the two gangsters, and invites each to a secret meeting at a deserted site outside the city, promising to reveal to them the identity of the contract holder. While driving to the rendezvous, she takes the cop who is tailing her on a furious chase through the city and the suburbs. Sanchez de Ia Torres' valued assistant, is driven off the road to his death in a fiery explosion. Samantha arrives at the abandoned ruins where two gangs await her …