The European nation-states are seeking new markets and raw material suppliers overseas in the dawning industrial age. Calcutta, Colombo, Batavia, Singapore, and Canton are the names of trading places that hold a magical allure for Hamburg merchants in 1838. They do not want to leave the purchasing of tea, silk, and porcelain in China solely to the Dutch, Portuguese, and British. However, pirates, opium smugglers, and typhoons lurk at sea. Jean-Paul Maiboom, a young merchant from Hamburg, is sent on the dangerous journey to Canton as an expedition leader by the East Asian Friendship Circle. The young man is inexperienced in matters of love; although he meets Alicia Eckey, the daughter of a family known to the Maibooms, at a ball, there is no time for a romantic relationship: Maiboom is equipping the fast and modern ship Dragon.