Julie Adams who in the 50s was a leading lady to folks like Jimmy Stewart steals this Big Valley story as the trophy wife of Harry Townes who is looking for him to make a big killing in the rice import market from China. The problem is that if he corners the market and dictates the price, a lot of Chinese will starve. Something the Chinese Association headed by Keye Luke and the local Tong headed by Philip Ahn will not permit and the Tong can get real nasty.
But nowhere near as nasty as Adams can get. This deal will make her husband fabulously wealthy and she'll stop at nothing to see it goes through. That includes arson and kidnapping, the latter specifically of Barbara Stanwyck who has the final say over who buys a consignment of rice that Richard Long arranged the purchase of and is due to arrive in San Francisco shortly.
If there is a weakness in this episode it is the assumption that everyone knows how important rice is to the Chinese diet. It is THEIR staple crop, taking the place of wheat, corn, barley, oats, etc., that westerners use. Controlling the price would produce starvation.
In any event Julie Adams who was never this kind of evil in her younger days on the big screen gives a bang up performance. Almost the kind of part Barbara Stanwyck used to do on the big screen.