William “Skip” Sands, a nephew of the colonel and a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent, accompanies a patrol of the Philippines Army searching for a nonexistent enemy—Huk guerrillas—an anti-occupation force long depleted. After the unsuccessful mission, Skip reflects that he knows such exercises are pointless, but engages in them anyway, as the clerical work the colonel has assigned him seems a mockery of his training as a spy.

Skip returns to the resort where he is staying. The resort was ostensibly built to serve the vacationing staff of the Del Monte corporation, but it is clearly a rest-stop for covert operatives. Skip’s fellow guests at the resort are an English entomologist named Anders Pitchfork and a German whom Skip suspects is a sniper or an assassin. The German is secretive and keeps to himself.

Skip was recruited by the CIA nine years ago from his campus in Bloomington. The Philippines is the first overseas covert ops foray for Skip, an expert in languages. Skip’s father having died in combat at Pearl Harbor when Skip was a small child, Skip has always sought a father figure in the colonel. The colonel is from the Boston Irish side of Skip’s family, a large, warm, boisterous group who are a welcome contrast to Skip’s mother’s reserved midwestern relatives. Though Skip idolizes the colonel and is in the Philippines for a special project the colonel has planned for him, he has hardly seen his uncle since he arrived there.

Later in the afternoon, Skip goes to the village to meet his friend, Philippine Army Major Eddie Aguinaldo. The mysterious German hitches a ride with Skip. To Skip’s surprise, it seems Eddie and the German know each other well, the German accepting Eddie’s lunch invite. The conversation turns to the sumpit, a blowgun, which Skip has seen the German practicing with at the resort. When Skip wonders who forged the blowgun for the German, a meaningful look passes between the German and Eddie, and they evade the topic. After the German leaves, Eddie takes Skip back to the Del Monte house in his black Mercedes, gifting Skip a beautiful gun in the car as a “going-away gift,” suggesting Skip will soon receive an exciting assignment. Eddie reveals that the colonel is waiting for Skip at Del Monte house.

Inside the staff house, Skip finds the colonel having drinks with Pitchfork. The colonel stands up to greet Skip and Eddie, and Skip notes his uncle appears mountainous, even though he is not much taller than Eddie. Skip excuses himself to his quarters so he can stash away the beautiful gun. Looking at the filing cabinets that fill his quarters, Skip reflects on the “thrilling” work he has been doing since he came to the Philippines: Creating a second catalog of the colonel’s copious intelligence notes. The colonel’s original catalog consists of 19,000 catalog cards, pasted four on a page. Almost none of the notes are comprehensible to Skip.

When Skip returns to the gathering, the colonel is holding forth on the genius of Edward Lansdale (an expert in psychological warfare and covert ops). According to the colonel, Lansdale’s modus operandi is to learn the beliefs and folklore of a populace to manipulate them psychologically. For instance, Lansdale used the legend of the Aswang—a malevolent shapeshifter from the folklore of the Philippines—to plant the suggestion that the creature was haunting an area. The area cleared of Huks almost immediately.

The men continue to exchange war stories, the colonel telling them about his famous escape from the Japanese during World War II. However, he never completes the story. When Skip says that order will be restored to the world once the US wipes out communism from every country, the colonel responds that there is a lot to be admired about the sacrificing spirit of the communists. Skip finds the idea of communism having redeeming factors preposterous. The colonel counters that the US too has its flaws, and Skip must not be so binary in his views.

After Eddie leaves the gathering, the colonel rambles in a drunk state. Skip brings him around to the topic of a transfer to Vietnam so he can indulge in “real” espionage. The colonel dithers, calling Saigon a lost cause, but finally gives in on the condition that Skip first visit the island of Mindanao to check on an American priest called Father Thomas Carignan. The colonel has received news that Carignan is secretly moving arms.

The narrative shifts to Carignan, a man in his 60s, who has spent most of his adult life in the Philippines. Carignan is dealing with a pressing problem: A young American missionary, Timothy Jones, has been missing for several weeks. Carignan has just received news that a body matching Timothy’s description has been lying near the Pulangi River in a state of decomposition. Carignan embarks on a two-day hike to the river along with local datus (chieftains) and Mayor Luis of the nearby town of Damulog to retrieve Timothy’s remains so they can be returned to his wife, a nurse called Kathy Jones. Carignan’s group arrives at the barangay (in this context, village) of Tatug near the river, dotted with graves from a recent massacre. As Carignan sits down wearily, a man fetches him the bones of his countryman, the missionary.

On a pitstop on his way to Carignan’s village, Skip runs into a teary-eyed Western woman his own age staring at him in a restaurant. The woman comes over to introduce herself as Kathy Jones. Skip, who doesn’t have much experience with women, simply stares awkwardly. Kathy rushes out of the restaurant in embarrassment, chiding herself for being foolish around the young American. She had reached out to him because he looked so much like Timothy.

The paths of Skip and Kathy recross in Damulong, another pitstop, and Kathy’s hometown in the Philippines. The two begin talking. Skip maintains the cover that he is an employee of the Del Monte corporation, but Kathy instinctively knows he is lying. Kathy learns that Skip is from Illinois, like Timothy. Skip learns that Kathy is, in fact, not American, but a Canadian from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Suspecting Skip is an intelligence agent, Kathy teasingly asks Skip if he has read The Ugly American, the 1958 novel about the missteps of America in Southeast Asia. Skip claims he has, and thinks the novel is rubbish. He has also read The Quiet American by Graham Greene, in which the CIA agent is presented as naïve but good-hearted. Kathy notices that Skip doesn’t run down Greene’s sympathetic novel.

The topic turns to Timothy, Kathy telling Skip that the search for him has so far been futile. As evening falls, Kathy spots Mayor Luis walking toward her and Skip and knows by Luis’s heavy approach that he brings her the worst possible news. Luis tells Kathy that Timothy is dead, handing her Timothy’s wedding ring, discovered among his remains, which have been kept at Luis’s house.

Later that night, Skip goes over to Kathy’s house to offer his condolences. A drunk Kathy asks Skip to come to bed with her. They go to Kathy’s bedroom and make love awkwardly. Skip walks back to his hotel soon after they’re finished, filled with remorse at taking advantage of a grieving widow the day she received news of her husband’s death. However, this does not stop Skip from seeking Kathy out again.

Skip heads to the village where Father Carignan’s modest church is situated. Skip finds Carignan to be kind and likeable, an unlikely candidate for running a weapons ring. From Carignan’s description of recent events, Skip can tell the colonel visited the area a few weeks ago, while Eddie and the German were seen in the vicinity just yesterday. As Skip goes to bed, he reflects that the colonel kept him in the dark about Eddie and the German also being sent to Mindanao. An angry Skip cannot make sense of why the colonel would think Carignan was running guns or why Skip has been asked to check on him.

The next day, the feast day of Saint Dionysia, Carignan offers a homily in English to his congregation, after which he goes down to the nearby river to bathe. As he reflects on his sermon, Carignan hears a motorized boat approach and just has time to spot a western man holding a blowgun to his lips before the dart hits his Adam’s apple. Carignan collapses.

Meanwhile, Skip looks around for the priest, finds him missing, and arrives at the river. He sees a departing motorboat and the figures of Eddie and the German. Father Carignan is floating dead in the water. Skip finally understands that the colonel sent him to the island to clean up the evidence. He removes the German’s sumpit from the priest’s neck and calls for help. The next day, he reports Carignan’s drowning.

Although Skip’s mission is over, he doesn’t return to Manila, but to Damulong. Embittered by Carignan’s death, he delays his departure, spending three weeks composing a meaningless report and spending his nights with Kathy.