Teenagers JOSH (Louis Corbett) and LING (Li Lin Jin) accompany their parents, CHRIS (Sam Neill) and Dr. LI (Wang Ji), on an archaeological expedition in China, where they discover something unimaginable hidden beneath a temple: a living Chinese dragon. Two millennia ago, this dragon had lent its mighty pearl to an emperor to protect his realm. However, instead of returning it, the emperor had the pearl interred with him under his palace. Deprived of its power source, the dragon has been trapped there ever since.