In Penang, 1921, Willie Maugham sends Number One Houseboy Ah Keng to wire his lawyers in New York, signaling his attempt to address his financial troubles. After breakfast he tries to read on the beach with Gerald but is too restless to relax. Gerald guesses Willie's worries concern his wife Syrie; Willie deflects by claiming illness, and returns to the house to work.

Encountering Dr Joyce attending Robert, Willie learns Robert's lung condition is worsening and that the humid climate is harming him; the doctor again urges a dry climate. Willie requests a writing desk in his room. While waiting, he explores the library, noting Robert's vast collection of books on China, all inscribed with Lesley's name and dated from April 1910 onward, and a photograph of a younger Lesley dressed in Straits Chinese attire.

Lesley arranges his desk and lends him A Man of the Southern Seas, a book about Sun Yat Sen's time in Penang, asking Willie to be fair to him. She borrows one of Willie's books for Robert, and Willie reflects sadly on Robert's deteriorating prognosis.

The narrative shifts back to recount Willie's earlier travels: his first Far East trip with Gerald via China, his strained homecoming to Syrie and his daughter Elizabeth, his renewed restlessness, and a confrontation in which he demanded freedom to travel alone or face separation/divorce. Syrie capitulated, and Willie set off on a long voyage with Gerald through America, Australia, Singapore, and the Malay states, eventually arriving at Cassowary House.

Returning to the present, Willie settles into a disciplined writing routine while Gerald, recovering his health, frequents brothels and gambling dens. Dressing for dinner at the Penang Club, Gerald mentions a poker friend's claim that Lesley was once intimately close to Sun Yat Sen and his Chinese revolutionaries. Intrigued, Willie asks Gerald to find out more about Lesley's past involvement with Dr Sun.