The young Venetian Marco Polo is on his way to the Emperor's court in Peking when he meets the intrepid time-travellers, for the TARDIS has landed on Earth in the year 1289.

Marco Pole recognises in the TARDIS a means of winning favour with the Emperor. But in the end the Doctor has no one but himself to blame for the loss of his wondrous travelling machine - which he gambles away to Kublai Khan...

Novelization of the Doctor Who TV series; seven episode story "Marco Polo" (1964), script by John Lucarotti.