Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dancehall girl to help pay off her mothers Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for.

Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former masters dying wish: that Ren find the mans finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his masters soul will wander the earth forever.

As the days tick relentlessly by, a series of unexplained deaths racks the district, along with whispers of men who turn into tigers. Ji Lin and Rens increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes.