Saigon at dawn, they say, is like waking from an opium dream. But dreams become nightmares when monsters can take any shape - even a human one. It’s approaching the end of the nineteenth century, in the French colonial empire of the Far East. Bian is a young Annamese girl whose disgraced father is hounded by lies that he stole the emperor’s gold. In a desperate bid to free her of their bad luck, Bian’s parents hide the truth of their situation and sell her to the Beauclercs, a French couple, who are looking to adopt a child. But the bad luck is a curse that follows her. When Bian leans the awful truth about the events surrounding her adoption by the Beauclercs, she commits herself to finding her lost sister, whatever the cost. Nothing will stop her, not even finding out that underneath the civilized facade of Saigon seethes a different world of human predators, shape-shifting tigers and blood-drinking vampires. Alone and betrayed, she finds that there are no easy choices and she must reap the harvest of lies.