It is February 1942. Singapore had fallen. In the seismic shockwave that follows, John Fullwood is preparing to abandon his rubber plantation on Bougainville Island before the Japanese arrive. He is loading his boat when an unexpected visitor flies in, the Civil Administrator of Papua New Guinea, Leonard Murray. He brings bad news. The army has ordered the plantation and everything in it to be destroyed to stop it falling into enemy hands. Even worse, Murray brings information about a stricken plane flying over Losuia Village in the Trobriand Group.
On board is Fullwood's youngest daughter Maria, a nurse recently evacuated from Singapore. An intercepted radio transmission suggests Maria had been captured by the Japanese. John Fullwood enlists Murray's help. He intends to impersonate his wife's German cousin, Baron Eric von Waly and go behind enemy lines to secure Maria's release through diplomatic channels. On the way he must deal with a near death-experience from snakebite, a tsunami and sailing into a spider's web of savagery and intrigue ruled over by the sadistic Colonel Haruki Saito, the Butcher of Nanking. He will also dine with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on the eve of the Battle of the Coral Sea, and above all he will fall in love.