While on an archaeological expedition with their parents, Josh and Ling, exploring beneath the temple, find a golden Chinese dragon. Two thousand years earlier, the dragon lent his pearl to the emperor, to help defend the kingdom. But the pearl was buried with the emperor and, without it, the dragon remains entombed. Josh and Ling hope to dig up the pearl and free the dragon, but there are others who crave the pearl's power for their own purposes.
The production is a Chinese-Australian co-production. As a treaty co-production, the film is simultaneously considered a fully Chinese film and a fully Australian film.