Talented magician Danny, who is half-Chinese, half-British, and dwarf strongman Zamora try to find the connection between the disastrous end of the circus Mysterium, where Danny's performer parents were killed, and the disappearance of his guardian aunt, who is investigating sinister gangs in Hong Kong.

The year is 1944, and Harry Black, a London firefighter battling the blazes caused by constant bombing, awakes in the hospital to learn that his soldier brother, Ellis, has been killed. In the delirium of his wounded state, Harry's mind blurs the distinctions between reality of war-torn London and the myth of Orpheus. Driven by visions of Ellis and a sense of poetic inevitability, Harry sets off on a journey which will lead him deep beneath the city....