Though born on the wrong side of the blanket, Jack Dupree, captain of the clipper ship ADELINE inherits a Halifax shipping company, but he must show a profit after one year. A passenger aboard his ship, Miss Seraphim Whing, poses as a missionary, In actuality she is a marine investigator for Lloyds of London sent to unravel the cargo losses on the run to the South China Seas, where the Opium Wars are about to unravel. Kidnapped she awakens on a ship where she'll be sold to a Chinese mandarin as a concubine. Jack sails around the world to find her.