Under the battle cry, "The Chinese Must Go," the Knights of Labor expel the Chinese from Tacoma and Seattle and move operations to Portland. During a fishermen's strike, Chinese scabs show up at an Astoria cannery to fish, violating a code that says only white men fish the river. Within days, the Knights of Labor slip into town and scheme to drive the Chinese out. However, if the Chinese are expelled, Astoria's canneries would close as the Chinese do all the inside work. In this hate-filled climate, a Chinese headman asks Sheriff TJ Stone to investigate the murder of a Chinese grocer. Days later, the body of a young Portland beauty is found floating in the Columbia River. The murders appear to be linked but the chief suspect, Chen Hop Li, appears to have no reason to kill the woman. As TJ struggles to solve the murders before racial hatred destroys the town, he tangles with two powerful men locked in battle for Oregon's senate seat: Ambrose Jameson, cannery owner, and Paul Purcell, Portland Police Commissioner, TJ is claustrophobic, which proves and extreme handicap when he descends into Portland's underground tunnels to hunt for the killer.