 The novel describes the life in China of a young executive in an American oil company from the early 1900s through the Nationalist Revolution of the 1920s.The young protagonist, Stephen Chase, is successful in understanding China and building business, but in the turmoil of China's Nationalist Revolution of the 1920s, he is betrayed by the company and by the new China which emerges.Hobart's husband was an executive for the Standard Oil Company.