This stand-alone adventure from the mighty Patrick O'Brian begins just where his devoted fans would want it to: with a sloop in the South China Sea barely surviving a killer typhoon. But the time is the 1930s and the protagonist a teenaged American boy whose missionary parents have just died. In the company of his rough, seafaring uncle and his elderly English cousin, an eminent archaeologist, young Derrick sets off in search of ancient treasures in central Asia.

Along the way, they encounter a charismatic Chinese bandit and a host of bad characters, including Russian agents fomenting unrest. The tale ends in an icebound valley with the party caught between hostile Red-Hat monks and the yeti whom the Tibetans call the Great Silent Ones.