"Foxfairy" is not an adequate translation of the Chinese "HULIJING", which is a dangerous supernatural creature, a ghostly shapeshifter, cunning and wily as a fox, and irresistibly alluring as a beautiful woman. The HULIJING is an appropriate symbol for this story of love, longing, and deception, featuring the last days of the magical city of Old Peking.

Mrs. Eve Freeman, who was born and grew up in Peking, returns after World War II, seeking a renewal of faith in herself and in the possibility of love. She soon recognizes that her passion for the city itself is doomed; but in the next two years, while the Chinese communist army makes its way across North China to descend on Peking, Eve has much to learn about old loves and new loves, about old friends and enemies, and particularly about herself.

She rents a section of an ancient palace, known to be haunted by a hulijing, and converts it into a profitable boarding house, which becomes home for an interesting group of foreign travelers and "old China hands."

The dreaded hulijing plays an important part in Eve's quest and in her ultimate enlightenment.