In 1932 Alice Whelan, fleeing a faithless husband in England and passing herself off as a widow, arrives with her baby in Simla, India, where her brother Ralph is private secretary to the Viceroy.在那里他终于找到火晶石的原矿，不过让他失望的是从这个矿点开采过的痕迹来看，这个矿点至少已经被开采了五六百年了，剩下的火晶石好像寥寥无几了。
