After responding to a richly scented plea for help, Chicago PI Scanner Grant teams up with the charismatic Max Zwoelstra to travel to Hong Kong in search of Max's adoptive father who has disappeared while selling cheese to the Chinese. Closer to home, a slew of abductions and the gruesome murder of a young Tibetan girl severely rattle Scanner's old friend and guardian, the esoteric taxi driver Lobsang. As both seemingly unrelated cases edge closer to an explosive finale, Scanner & Max need all the help they can muster while they confront a Nazi scientist, a battle scarred Vietnamese pimp, an over the hill Aussie punter and a morbid Japanese priest. The long hidden secrets they unravel along the way are bound to change their lives forever.