The year is 1963, and Struan and Co., despite old-fashioned ways, is still the Noble House of Hong Kong. Ian Struan Dunross, invested with solemn oaths as the new Tai-Pan, plans to bring the House into the 20th century as speedily as possible. High on Ian's list of worries is that Jin-qua's last half-coin remains uncashed. Whoever posesses the other half may ask of Struan's Tai-Pan any favor within the Tai-Pan's power. With the heirs of old Dirk's ancient enemy, Tyler Brock, plotting to wrest financial supremacy from the House, an inconvenient request could spell chaos for Struan's. The ghosts of powerful personalities from the past are strongly visible in the background as a huge cast of ambitious and complex characters, including those whose birth has caught them inconveniently between the worlds of Asians and Westerners, play out their dramas against the backdrop of Ian's struggle to keep Struan's on top.