1894, Jindy Kelly arrives in the plague port of Hong Kong, looking for the enigmatic Johnny Fong, who may know the whereabouts of her mother. Her quest propels her from the heart of the British colonial establishment to the festering animosity of the Chinese slums. She discovers that Johnny is now a revolutionary outlaw, her mother is not what she seemed, and the answers to the mystery are back home in the socialist paradise of Kerosene Creek.