September 9, 2012. Edison Cheng hops a flight to London from Hong Kong to escort a client of his banking firm, Bao Shaoyen, whose son has been in a car accident. Eddie, who only flies first class, finds Mrs. Bao sitting in economy class, though her husband owns one of China’s biggest pharmaceutical firms. Carlton Bao crashed his Ferrari into a Jimmy Choo shop in London, killing one of his passengers, a Chinese girl, and injuring another, a British girl. Eddie is prepared to bribe the press to keep silent about the dead young woman so as not to harm Mr. Bao’s political career.

Eleanor Young, in London to do some banking and shopping with her friends, runs into Eddie, her nephew, who asks her help in dealing with the distraught Bao Shaoyen. Eleanor notes a resemblance between Carlton Bao and Rachel Chu, her son Nick’s fiancée.

Hong Kong, January 25, 2013. Christie’s auction house asks Oliver T’sien, one of their specialists, to oversee the auction of a classical Chinese artwork, a painting composed of several silk scrolls called The Palace of the Eighteen Perfections. Corinna Ko-Tung meets her clients, Lester and Valerie Liu, at the Mandarin Hotel to discuss how they might acquire the painting.