Chinese headman Wei Shing stumbles across a valuable new gold seam on the frontier, but he is soon implicated in a woman's murder.
Shing must protect himself from both the Europeans and Chinese, as the Europeans have a witness that implicates him in the white woman's murder; Lei's intentions impact Shing's role as headman.
Lei strikes a deal with Shing to keep the secret gold seam operation running, and another suspect is charged with Annie's murder.