Alfred Nichol, a hard- driving railroad tycoon, has met his match - the Rocky Mountains!

He risks financial ruin if he can't blast a trail through the granite peaks and complete his trans- continental railroad.

He decides that thousands of cheap Chinese labourers can save his hide, and dispatches
his playboy son James off to China to hire them - at rock- bottom wages.

In China, times are tough. A poor teenaged boy nicknamed Little Tiger yearns to sail across the sea to "Gold Mountain" to make his fortune. He knows the risks. His father ventured there years ago but his bones were returned in a box.

This spunky kid begs James to hire him, but he refuses ... till a vicious gang leader attacks him and Little Tiger saves his life. That does it! James has to protect the puny kid from the gang's retribution, so Little Tiger joins the other recruits and sails off to the new world, never suspecting that one of his father's enemies is also on the ship, bound for Gold Mountain.

On the railway construction site, being small and skilled at dynamiting proves a big asset for the kid. He clears a tunnel that's collapsed, winning James's respect and friendship - plus a five dollar reward! James invites his pal to cool off in a secret mountain pool and their unlikely bond grows stronger.

The kid's Chinese boss is the demanding Book Man, with power over all the Chinese workers, who struggle with danger and utter loneliness, and every day face the jeopardy of dying on the rock wall and leaving their bones to be buried beside the track.

But Little Tiger is hiding a big secret: "he" is actually a beautiful young woman who's disguised herself to survive in a man's world ... and she's falling in love with James!

Swimming with him under the stars, Little Tiger impulsively reveals her true identity. James is shocked and angry ... but cannot resist his attraction to this enchanting woman. Soon they are caught up in a passion which defies the taboos of both their worlds.

Little Tiger becomes suspicious that years ago the Book Man may have murdered her father, and she tries to find out if it is true. But instead, her snooping uncovers the fact that Book Man and his white partners are embezzling funds from Nichol's company. The white partners, fearing that she will expose their larceny to James and his father, force the Book Man to arrange an "accident" that will send Little Tiger to her death on the rock face.

Now everything is at stake - her life, her love for James, and her quest for the truth about her father.

Meet the characters

Go to Chinese version of the story

Producers:   Raymond Massey, Anne Tait
and
Barry Pearson

Executive Producer:  Arnie Zipursky

Writers:   Barry Pearson and Raymond Storey

Home