It's 1938 and war clouds are gathering across the globe, but intrepid ethnobotany professor Ivy Linden is preoccupied with her summer fieldwork. That is until two enigmatic strangers arrive at her office and upend her plans: she must instead search for an antimalarial plant in Malaya.
Ivy reluctantly accepts the mission, unaware of what adventures - and dangers - await her. Winging her way across the Pacific aboard the Pan American Clipper, she soon realizes this is no ordinary botany expedition, and she's not the only one searching for this plant.
From the Long Bar at Singapore's swanky Raffles Hotel to a tiny island in the South Pacific that holds a powerful secret, Ivy's mysterious quest becomes more perplexing and perilous. She forms new friendships along the way, but rekindles an old rivalry with the nemesis she never wanted and receives fortuitous help from unexpected sources, challenging the very foundations of her beliefs. Can Ivy and her friends complete their fateful mission before it's too late?