Lydia Chin, a Chinese-American P.I. who lives in New York City’s Chinatown, is hired for a simple job. She’s to deliver the ransom for a set of stolen sketches that comprise the inaugural collection of fashion designer Genna Jing and her new label, Mandarin Plaid. But everything on this simple job goes terribly wrong. The ransom is stolen out from under Lydia, her sometimes partner, Bill Smith, is arrested, and just as she is trying to sort

Lydia Chin is hired by Grandfather Gao, one of the most respected figures in Chinatown, for what appears to be a simple task. Lydia, along with her professional partner, Bill Smith, is to fly to Hong Kong to deliver a family heirloom to the young grandson of a recently deceased colleague of Grandfather Gao. But before they can deliver the heirloom, the grandson is kidnapped and two separate ransom demands are made.