China's last imperial dynasty had ended. The Japanese were invading the coastal provinces; the Communists were making trouble inland. In a remote province, a warlord was getting ready to stage his rebellion. He owned the largest gold reserve in China, having amassed a fortune from smuggling opium for the British. He wanted to 'restore the Middle Kingdom to its former glory', counting on help from a Western educated spymaster and his wife, a descendent of Confucius, a Shanghai singsong girl and her French lover who stumbled upon secrets that could change America's China policy, a soldier of fortune from Nazi Germany who would almost pull off one of the biggest cons in Second World War. A seemingly insignificant incident upset the warlord's plan. A trunk of his gold went astray. The domino effect began. Lives were turned upside down; the course of history changed. The story is told mostly from the point of view of the warlord's adopted son, a half Caucasian who 'was Chinese when he was in China.' An insider with an outsider's heart, he could not come to terms with his foster father's ambitions, yet he was bound by loyalty to obey. Until he met the girl he loved... Supporting cast includes Mao, Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong May-ling, Joseph Stilwell, China's last emperor Pu-yi. The narrative is framed by historical events: the Nanking Massacre, the Sino-Japanese and World War II.