Despairing of any chance to marry his love Nettie Vollar because of a bitter feud between his father and her grandfather, Gerrit Ammidon sails to China to "get away from it all". While in Shanghai he rescues a beautiful young woman being attacked by a gang of street toughs. She turns out to be Taou Yuen, a Manchu princess. Gerrit discovers that she will be put to death unless she finds a husband, and he agrees to marry her. They return to Java Head, the Ammidon family home in Salem, Massachusetts, but Gerrit's "homecoming" has unexpected consequences.