Tod Morgan, a nineteen-year old farm boy, came to San Francisco in search of his missing brother only to be shanghaied aboard a tramp steamer bound for China.

            His ordeals aboard the steamer at the hands of a sadistic second mate are harrowing, but pale in comparison to what awaits him when Chinese pirates board the ship in the East China Sea.  During the battle Tod is knocked overboard and stows away on the pirate's junk, hoping to swim ashore when it docks.  However he is discovered and faces execution at the hands of the pirates, but is rescued by an unlikely and temporary ally.  By a strange quirk of fate he is reunited with his brother, albeit under extremely disheartening circumstances. 

            The rough-and-tumble adventure is played out against the backdrop of nineteenth century China with its pirates, warlords, bandits, and tongs.  Tod meets a Scottish archaeologist, Professor MacKay - his daughter, Rill - Lieutenant Chang of the Shanghai Police - a soft-spoken Chinese wanderer, Quang Key and his mute Mongolian giant companion, Hu Ling.  Along with these newfound friends, Tod becomes embroiled in a deadly intrigue concerning the hidden tomb of a Shang dynasty princess and her burial robe of pure jade. 

Tod and his newfound friends soon find themselves in a life or death struggle against the beautiful but sadistic bandit queen, Dongfang, known and feared throughout the northeastern provinces of China as Madame Fang, who also seeks to possess the fabled burial robe.