The story focuses on a British family, the Blacketts, who control one of the leading trading companies in colonial-era Singapore, and the son of his business partner, Matthew Webb. Walter Blackett is keen that Matthew Webb should marry his daughter Joan, but Matthew is interested instead in a mysterious Chinese woman, Vera Chiang. When the Japanese invade and occupy Singapore, the couple is forced apart. A running joke in the story is Matthew trying to find out what "the Singapore Grip" means, and getting different answers from different people he talks to.