The span on the River yuan open in a Nipponese prisoner-of-war encampment in Myanmar in 1943, where a conflict of volition fury between encampment commanding officer Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) and freshly arrive British colonel Nicholson (Alec Alec Guinness). Saito insists that Nicholson order his men to construct a span over the river yuan, which will be use to transport Nipponese weaponry.