Haunted by a tragic love affair in England, May Monckton returns to China, the enchanted land of her birth, only to find that she cannot escape the turbulent passions of the heart.

Alexander Wolders is a dashing adventurer, an arrogant stranger who thinks of the lovely May as simply another conquest. But soon it is May who conquers Alex, weaving a spell of frenzied desire and consuming passion into a boundless love as proud and fierce as China herself.