Tintin finds himself in the middle of a mystery involving a drowned man, a tin of crab meat, and a piece of paper with a strange name on it. He follows the clues to a ship and finds its crew is using the crab tins to smuggle opiates out of the country.
Tintin & Haddock escape from the Karaboudjan and now find themselves in a desert, where they find out their problems with Alan and the ship crew are yet far from an end.
Tintin finds a ship model in the Old Street Market and buys it for Captain Haddock as a gift. Little he knows that it will turn into a treasure hunt, connecting them to Sir Francis Haddock, Captain's ancestor.
Tintin and the Captain search for the pirate's treasure they learned about with the help of their eccentric, but lovable new friend, Professor Calculus.
In India, Tintin meets the Maharaj of Gaipajama and finds out he will need to help him and his family to fight an opium business dangerous gang that works in that region.
Tintin heads to Sheanghai after receiving part of a message mentioning a mysterious man named Mitsuhirato. There, he finds out he might have to deal with remaining problems with the opium gang he and the Maharaja thought to be over.
Tintin needs to find a doctor who can save those injected with the madness poison. However, the doctor was kidnapped by the syndicate and is now being held hostage outside the border of Shanghai. Tintin will have to try to escape from Shanghai to put an end to the syndicate once and for all.
