After completing his training at the farm, agent Carter Ian Ames arrives in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province in western China. He is met at the airport by a friendly representative of the university where he will perform his cover job as an English teacher. Soon he meets his Han Chinese asset as well as his Uyghur asset. It is not until his rendezvous with his boss in Chengdu, Sichuan Province that he begins to realize what is expected of him. This is when his crisis of confidence begins.