Isabelle Webb, a former Pinkerton spy, is still reeling after the recent assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.  She blames herself for failing to warn him, failing to save the great man from the bullet that took his life.  A vacation is exactly what the 26-year-old needs to take her mind off her part in the tragedy.  Accompanied by Sally Rhodes, her 16-year-old ward, Isabelle heads to Bombay aboard a steamer ship.  While en route to their destination, the women meet James Ashby, a Mormon blacksmith from Utah, who's traveling to India in the hopes of locating his younger brother.  Phillip Ashby, a charming but senseless 20-year-old, has disappeared while hunting down a mythical jewel in the company of a known shyster.