James Garner plays a fashion photographer, on location in the South American jungle (the Universal backlot) to shoot a cosmetic ad with model Eva Renzi. Garner witnesses the death of a helicopter pilot, then becomes mixed up with a labyrinthine smuggling scheme. On the run from assassins who think he's a CIA agent, Garner finds he must cast his lot with disreputable George Kennedy, who's in the jungle to locate a diamond mine. According to some reports, The Pink Jungle was supposed to be a TV movie, but was reshaped as a theatrical film. The storyline was based on the Alan Williams novel Snake Water.