The second volume of the saga trilogy. In September 1838, in the Indian Ocean, the schooner Ibis, carrying prisoners and hired workers from Calcutta to Mauritius, fell into the very center of a powerful storm. The novel follows the fate of people caught in a storm - not only natural, but also historical. Some of them were thrown by storm and fate into the Chinese Canton, where trade with foreigners is concentrated. Despite the efforts of the Chinese emperor to stop the opium trade, European ships plying between India and China still deliver the potion. The central figures in the second book of the trilogy are a wealthy Parsi opium merchant from Bombay| Former Indian Rajah Turned Trade Mission Clerk | a young French orphan and a motley gang united in the pursuit of romance and wealth. Each of them is trying to cope with their losses, and some - with the freedom that has fallen on them.

The book contains obscene language