It's 1923 and China is in chaos--a weak central government, battling war lords, and bandit gangs riven the country. SUN MEI-YAO, a cashiered Nationalist Army officer, regularly plunders prizes with his military expertise. Tonight his goal is the elite British train, the Shanghai Express with its wealthy Occidental passengers--not effete ne'ar do wells but rogues, killers, spies, and harlots.