Brody Walsh, an American science teacher, travels to Nanjing China to start a new job and begin a new life. In his first five hours on foreign soil, he is hauled away by Chinese customs, has a run-in with a con man who won't take no for an answer, and falls for Mai Ling Li, a stunning beauty, whose former lover refuses to remain in her past. Spring Festival splits Mai and Brody apart-she returns to her village, her family, and the ex-boyfriend-Walsh journeys to northeast China to help in a dangerous expedition tracking wild Siberian tigers. With time to reflect in the wilderness, Brody realizes his life has no meaning without Mai Ling. Mai's passion for him grows equally strong, but when she returns to Nanjing, she is abducted and terrorized by a gang of men who will kill her if she doesn't betray the man she loves. Thrust into the brutal world of murderers and thieves, Walsh must rely on his calculating mind, the kindness of strangers, and help from the capricious Tiger Gods, to rise above his fears-but can he protect the woman he loves without sacrificing himself?