The story opens with Monte Irvin's unsettling discovery of a link between his domestic life and a professional dream-reader, Kazmah, and then unfolds as a police inquiry and clandestine investigations probe a sophisticated drug syndicate. Episodes range from fortune-telling rooms and opium-haunted districts to Soho night life, cigarette shipments from abroad, and a fearsome figure named Sin Sin Wa whose influence is woven through magic and coercion. Chief Inspector Kerry, a resigned investigator, and a mysterious man from Whitehall piece together evidence, infiltrate dens, and track the gang's methods. The narrative culminates in confrontations, the unmasking of criminal mechanisms, and an aftermath that recounts the crime's true story.