On a flight to the Bukuvu, a baby named George becomes stranded after a plane crash and is raised by the jungle, becoming the “White Ape”. Twenty-five years later, while touring Burundi with local guide Kwame and a trio of porters, San Francisco heiress Ursula Stanhope encounters her spoiled fiancé Lyle van de Groot, who wishes to take her home and has hired two poachers, Max and Thor, to track her down. Ursula refuses to go home until she sees an ape, so Lyle enters the jungle to find them. The two encounter a lion, and when Lyle knocks himself unconscious while ostensibly fleeing to get help, Ursula is saved by George.