In 1860 Colonel Ward leads a band of mercenaries against the Taiping rebels. One of his men, Harry Lindley, is searching for his missionary father. At the heart of the Celestial Realm, the Emperor is oblivious to these 'foreign devils'. Dazed by opulence and opium, he is blind to the vicious internecine struggles around him - on one side his ministers, who see no obstacle but a little bloodshed between them and vast fortunes; on the other, swathed in silk and jewels, the implacable figure of the Emperor's first concubine.

As a civil war brews, the situation is exploited by the British, Americans and French who see it only as a good business opportunity. While Harry is troubled by problems closer to home...