Private eye Moses Wine is offered a guided tour of the People's Republic, the U.S.-China Friendship Study Tour Number Five, arranged by the China Friendship Society­an organization in which Moses' Aunt Sonya was an officer. He needed to get away from the personal injury cases, murder investigations, and monotony of life. But China has a way of springing surprises, and soon California's hippest ex-radical detective is chasing down the priceless Han Dynasty Peking Duck, falling for a gorgeous dragon lady in a Mao suit­and fighting for his life across a vast, mysterious land he barely knows.