Alice sees a newspaper article reporting the phoenix crown has been found and sends three urgent telegraphs to her friends.

Gemma arrives in San Francisco stranded with luggage on a steep hill; Suling, disguised as a boy, helps her using a pushcart.

Gemma visits the Grand Opera House, spots Nellie's unfinished fresco, meets accompanist George, and is invited to dinner by railroad tycoon Henry Thornton.

Henry reveals his fire-scarred hand over dinner and formally offers to become Gemma's wealthy patron in exchange for her performing at his parties.

At Henry's party, Alice convinces Henry to hire Suling to repair his valuable dragon robe, negotiating $160 for the work.

Henry pays Gemma after the party, shows her the Phoenix Crown, and they negotiate full patronage terms before becoming lovers.

Gemma and Suling realize that Nellie and Reggie are the same missing person after recognizing her drawing of Suling in two outfits.

Suling breaks into Henry's office and finds receipts proving he has been making monthly payments to a Catholic asylum.

The San Francisco earthquake strikes while Gemma reads the morning newspaper in Henry's mansion after his all-night party.

Suling gets keys from a nun named Sister Anne and unlocks cells until she finds Reggie heavily drugged inside the earthquake-damaged asylum.

Henry shoots and kills Madam Ning in front of all four women when she arrives at the octagon house to collect unpaid wages.

Henry locks the four women inside his conservatory, takes the Phoenix Crown and his valuables, and sets his mansion on fire.

Gemma holds her breath using her trained lung capacity and runs back into the burning mansion to drag out Suling and Reggie.

The women corner Henry in the garden at Versailles with torches; Alice brings Cecilia's father to witness his forced confession.

Henry dies by suicide during his trial; Reggie is able to paint again, and all four women move back to San Francisco.

Gemma Garland arrives in San Francisco and falls under the patronage of wealthy railroad tycoon Henry Thornton, becoming his mistress while building her opera career. When seamstress Suling Feng discovers Henry is secretly paying to keep their mutual friend Reggie imprisoned in an asylum, the two women launch a covert investigation. The San Francisco earthquake strikes just as their plan unfolds, devastating the city but also cracking open Reggie's place of captivity. Henry reveals his true cruelty by murdering Madam Ning and locking all four women inside his burning mansion. Gemma's opera-trained lungs allow her to run back into the flames and drag her friends to safety. Years later, the women track Henry to France, force his confession before a credible witness, and see him arrested—an ordeal that ends with his death by suicide and their collective return to San Francisco.

The headline events driving the novel's main plot.

On the train to San Francisco, Gemma is lectured by a fundamentalist Flying Roller who predicts divine punishment for the sinful city.

Gemma meets botanist Alice Eastwood at a Nob Hill boarding house and rents the room vacated by her missing friend Nellie.

Suling visits Madam Ning at the brothel and learns her Third Uncle has already arranged her marriage to Dr. Ouyang.

Henry shows Suling the silk roses Reggie left behind and hires her to sew twenty-five more at a surprisingly high price.

Gemma performs at Henry's private party and her soprano voice silences every guest and earns a standing ovation.

Gemma receives a package containing Nellie's drawing of Suling depicted in both her male disguise and her true female appearance.

Third Uncle discovers Suling's train ticket, tears it up, and slaps her; she escapes through her bedroom window with her hidden savings.

Gemma sings Mozart's Queen of the Night aria at Henry's midnight party, impressing Caruso, the Mayor, and other prominent guests.

Reggie, now rescued from the asylum, tells Suling she witnessed Henry stab a Pinkerton detective who had been questioning him.

Gemma helps Alice climb the broken staircase banister of the Academy building to rescue six floors of irreplaceable botanical samples.

The four women watch the rare Queen of the Night flower bloom together in the boarding house as San Francisco burns around them.

George finds Gemma singing at an abandoned street piano in the earthquake wreckage and accompanies her until she sings herself hoarse.

Suling presents her dragon robe repair work as part of her portfolio and is hired on the spot at Callot Soeurs in Paris.

Reggie steals Suling's invitation to Poiret's Versailles costume party and disappears alone to warn Henry's new fiancée Cecilia about his crimes.

After discovering Henry is a murderer, Cecilia throws the Phoenix Crown into a burning brazier at the Versailles garden party.

Before the earthquake, the four women navigate the daily obstacles of early 1900s San Francisco, from Gemma's chance meeting with Alice at the boarding house to Suling's fight against an arranged marriage. Henry's patronage system brings them together, as Gemma's showstopping party performance launches her career and Suling's silk work earns her crucial income and opportunity. A telling package from Nellie and Suling's desperate escape through a bedroom window set the stage for the earthquake's violence. The disaster brings its own turning points: Reggie's revelation about the murder she witnessed, Alice and Gemma's daring climb to rescue irreplaceable botanical specimens, and the Queen of the Night blooming as the city burns. In the years that follow, a dragon robe opens doors for Suling in Paris while Reggie's stolen invitation forces the confrontation that finally ends with Cecilia burning the Phoenix Crown in a brazier.

The supporting events that shaped each woman's journey.

Suling delivers laundry to Henry's octagonal mansion and recalls the night she first met Reggie at one of his lavish parties.

Alice hires Suling to create scientifically accurate silk flowers for the Academy and offers to connect her with a New York fashion house.

Gemma lies bedridden with a migraine and reflects on the agent who emptied her bank account while she was incapacitated.

Henry secretly purchases Gemma the lead role of Micaëla in Carmen, surprising her and causing deep resentment throughout the opera company.

Suling realizes Reggie's farewell letter is typewritten and addressed to Gemma's stage name rather than her given name, Sally.

Suling leaves Gemma a note, travels to St. Christina's Convent, and is turned away by nuns who refuse her entry.

Gemma performs the role of Micaëla on opening night of Carmen alongside the famous tenor Enrico Caruso.

The earthquake strikes while Suling waits at a church portico across from the asylum, and the collapsing walls open a path inside.

Reggie learns that Gemma is currently Henry's mistress and demands that Suling take her immediately to the octagon house.

Alice discovers that the conservatory's back-door key also unlocks the front door, giving the trapped women their only escape route.

The four women part ways after the earthquake: Suling and Reggie head to Oakland while Alice retreats to the Tahoe wilderness.

Alice receives a letter from Sergeant Clarkson reporting that Henry is presumed dead from the earthquake but no body has been recovered.

The four women reunite at a Paris café, where Alice reveals Henry is living under a false name with a new aristocratic fiancée.

Suling spots Henry arriving at Poiret's Versailles party with Cecilia, who is wearing the Phoenix Crown on her head.

Clarkson arrives in Paris, uses a paper trail to connect Henry's two aliases, and formally arrests him for murder.

The turning points of the story begin in quiet moments before disaster: Suling's memories of first meeting Reggie at Henry's mansion, Gemma's private reckoning with her stolen savings, and Alice's decisive offer that could give Suling an escape from her arranged marriage. Henry's manipulation escalates when he secretly buys Gemma a starring opera role, while Suling's sharp eye catches the telltale clues that Reggie's farewell letter is a forgery. The earthquake transforms everything, trapping Suling at the asylum gates until the collapsing walls let her in, and forcing Reggie to confront the fact that Gemma is Henry's mistress. A small but crucial discovery by Alice—that one key opens two locks—gives the women their only chance to escape the burning conservatory. In the years that follow, the women rebuild their lives across two continents until Alice's discovery that Henry is alive reunites them in Paris for a final reckoning.