It's 1987 and in ten years' time Britain will hand back the Crown Colony of Hong Kong to China. Detective-Inspector Scrimple hasn't solved a crime in years, his bosses hate him, his friends laugh at him and he hasn't had a real girlfriend since he left England to join the Royal Hong Kong Police. But all of that is about to change. When the dead body of a prominent expatriate is found in a garbage room and Scrimple is sent to investigate, his boring, mediocre life is turned upside down as he gets involved with a gorgeous nightclub hostess, incurs the wrath of a powerful Triad boss and is finally betrayed by his colleagues.