In 1948, four young girls, daughters of Shanghai's elite, attending college in America find themselves unable to return after the Communists take Shanghai.

Chen Yunxuan and his daughter Xiujuan escape from China to Taiwan in 1949 but leave Chen's pregnant wife behind. 30 years later Xiujuan meets her mother and a brother she never knew.

The story of the Opium War between China, in the waning days of the Qing Dynasty, and the British Empire, in the 1830s, and the subsequent takeover of Hong Kong by Britain; through the eyes of the key figures, fiercely nationalistic Lin Zexu, and opportunistic British naval diplomat Charles Elliot.