A Herculean achievement, strong plot, and powerful characterization. It is 1862, and Japan is a country in chaos as the power of the Shogun wavers and rival factions plan to restore the Emperor. In Yokohama, the Gai-jin, the despised foreigners, are trying to profit from the turmoil. At the head of the noble house—and heir to the title Tai-Pan—is Malcolm Struan, who is determined to become his own man and marry the woman he loves. Leading the Shogunate party is Lord Yoshi, a direct descendant of Shogun Toranaga, who embodies all the cunning and ambition of his ancestor. A passionate portrait of suffering, a strange and captivating tale of a nation's unravelling.