Beautiful but superficial Kitty Fane arrives in 1920s Hong Kong, accompanying her bacteriologist husband, the quiet and honorable Walter Fane. Kitty begins an affair, but Walter learns of her infidelity, and forces her to accompany him on a charitable mission into the heart of a cholera epidemic in mainland China—a mission of potentially deadly risk. The people and events they encounter there force them to confront their own deepest selves, changing them both forever.

The novel was successful in its time, and has proven to be one of Maugham’s most enduring. Although deeply introspective, it enjoyed a stage adaptation and three commercial film adaptations, including one in the 21st century.