March 22, 1952: During the four years of Torchy in Heartbeats comics, 1950-54, Torchy pursues adventure and romance, while at times confronting racial injustice and social ills. The story seen here is part of an exciting episode of foreign intrigue. Recovering from a broken heart after relinquishing her boyfriend to his first love, music, Torchy hops a tramp freighter for a job on a Brazilian plantation. In this strip, she is met at the boat and conducted to the plantation by Manu, the sinister minion of LeGran, a cruel overseer who will make Torchy his prey. Just in time, she flees into the snake-infested jungle with another of Le Gran's captives, her newfound love, high-minded Dr. Paul Hammond. Torchy and Paul escape and make their way back to America where they battle racism and environmental pollution in a little town called "Southville." In the final episode in 1954, Torchy and Paul confront a bigoted factory owner responsible for polluting the town and sickening its people.
The 1954 series has been Jackie Ormes's most acclaimed in cartoon and comics histories and Who's Whos, because of its forward-looking themes in an era before civil rights and environmental movements. Torchy Togs paper doll cutouts featured the heroine's fashionable, modern wardrobe, and they frequently accompanied the strip. Torchy's sometime pin-up poses set her apart from other paper doll characters of this time.

In the book there are eighteen full color pages of Torchy in Heartbeats.