An epic romance set during World War II, the story follows Paul Soames (John Cusack), an American spy, who is sent to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor to investigate the death of his good friend Connor (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). While he unravels the mysteries of the death and is drawn into an ever increasing web of conspiracy and deceit, he discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding. To complicate matters, he becomes enamored by the seductive wife of a triad leader, who is holding a few secrets of her own.