Northern China in 1900. The nation is in turmoil, the failing Manchu dynasty struggles to survive in the face of social disintegration and foreign encroachments, and from the countryside comes a response: the brutal, quasi-religious movement known as the Boxers, who seek to rid the country of foreign influence. An American missionary couple in a remote town are killed, and their son Wayland is left barely clinging to life. Rescued by kindly Chinese passers-by, Wayland begins his recovery in the still-simmering city of Tientsin, and finds his new Chinese family has dark secrets of its own. He is thrust into the middle of a deadly dispute between two martial arts masters, and his own fate will hinge on the outcome. Wayland must navigate between two worlds, and to do so, arms himself with the powerful secrets of Chinese martial arts.