Hong Kong's demi-monde at the height of the British Empire, in 1869. Franziska Goldmann, an opera-singer betrayed into prostitution, has become a star courtesan in Hong Kong. A Chance encounter with Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's musical second son, seems to offer her an opportunity to resume her career as a singer. But it is the other unpredictable characters in her life, especially her German anarchist lover and a devious procurer, who may ultimately determine her destiny. A haunting story of a lone woman's struggle to escape her fate, gage street Courtesan unfolds against the ironically observed background of colonial society, from the waterfront brothels to the mansions of the rich.