Mei is dead, a reminder that all choices have consequences. While hunting for her murderer in the mountains of China, Nathaniel Chambers receives word from an old adversary that his estranged brother has allegedly committed suicide in the goldrush town of Gulgong, in the Colony of New South Wales. Australia is the last place Chambers wants to be. The first time was for honour, the second time for duty, now it's personal. Whatever the people of Gulgong are hiding, they are at least covering up Henry's murder. But Chambers will not go alone. His cloud of witnesses haunts his every step, memories of the Opium War, the Taiping Rebellion, and the Eureka Stockade. They taunt and mock him, reminding him of his greatest curse, that he is still alive and could not save them. Biddy said that when he came, Chambers unsettled too many ghosts. In trying to save others, he tried to save himself, but sometimes the dead are best left alone. Some things said cannot be unsaid, and some things cannot be forgotten.