It all starts with Snowy's picking in garbage and finding a can with crab picture printed on it. Later that day he meets Thompson and Thomson and finds a piece of paper with the same crab picture in their possession. Tintin finds the word Karaboudjan at the back of the paper. He learns from the Thompson Twins that the drowned man in whose pocket they found the paper was a man from the ship called Karaboudjan. So he pays a visit to the ship and the first mate Allan senses that Tintin is upto something and tries to kill him. While cornered in a cabin, Tintin finds out the crab tins are full of Opium. Tintin finds Captain Haddock in the ship who is an honest man and easily satisfied with Whisky. So First Mate Allan just keeps him under his control with Whisky and uses the cargo to smuggle Opium. Tintin takes the Captain with him when he escapes from the ship.

The plane Tintin and Haddock are using to escape crashes on Sahara and they got saved by the Lieutenant Delcourt's people. After several days journey they reach Bagghar, where they learn about Omar Ben Salaad who is the biggest trader in the city. The Thompson Twins charges him directly and Omar gets very angry. Just as he was throwing the Twins out Tintin and Captain finds Omar's celler full of opium in crab tins and Omar with a necklace with two gold crab claws. The story ends with the whole gang getting captured by the police, even First Mate Allan who tries to escape. Captain gives a speech about how a sailor's greatest enemy is Alchohol and gets ill by drinking a glass of water.

It all starts with Tintin's finding a ship in the Old Street Market and buying it for Captain Haddock as a gift. Little he knows at that point that it will turn into a treasure hunt, because the model ship Unicorn is a copy of the ship that was commanded by Sir Francis Haddock, Captain's ancestor.

Tintin is not the only one who knows the secret of the parchment hidden inside the ship's mast. The Byrd Brothers, antique dealers, also find a copy of the model ship Unicorn in their basement. They also start looking for the other two parchments, and they are not really the friendly kind. When their agent, Barnaby, tries to warn Tintin about the Byrd Brothers they try to kill him and also kidnap Tintin to find out about the parchments that they are missing. At last the parchments are recovered and the mystery solved.

Tintin, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and Thomsom and Thompson go for a treasure hunt in this episode. At end of the book finally they find the treasure and Captain buys back his family estate Marlinspike Hall with help from Professor Calculus.

Tintin finds himself – by chance – entangled in a drug traffickers’ ring, which will take him all the way to India.

Tintin's plane crashes in India. Here he finds Sarcophagus who is effected by Rajaijah juice, poison of madness. He meets the Maharaj of Gaipajama whose family has been fighting the opium business. With the Maharaja's aid and by his presence of mind Tintin captures the whole gang and stops the Opium business in those areas.

After the adventure of The Cigars of the Pharaoh, while Tintin spends some time with Maharaja of Gaipajama, a messanger comes from Shanghai, and before he could deliver his message, he gets effected by Rajaijah juice, the poison of madness. Only thing Tintin could get out of him is the name of the person, Mitsuhirato, who sent this messanger. Tintin leaves at once for Shanghai and there he meets Mr. Mitsuhirato. Mitsuhirato tells Tintin to go back to India because the Maharaja is in danger. Meantime someone keeps on saving Tintin from getting killed by some unknown person. Later Tintin finds this friend, who has been trying to save him, has been affected by the poison of madness. With a lot of unanswered questions Tintin leaves Sanghai. But on his way to Bombay he is kidnapped by Wang Chen-yee to explain the incidents. Here Tintin learns, the person who has been trying to save Tintin's life is Mr. Wang's son. Tintin also learns that Mitsuhirato is a Japanese secret agent in China.

Tintin takes the chance of crossing the Japanese lines to have the poison analyzed even though there is a price for his head with the Japanese. Tintin passes the Japanese line in disguise and comes to Professor Fang Hsi-ying's house. While waiting there for very long time he learns that the Professor left with a gentleman called Mr. Rastapopoulos. While looking for the Professor, Tintin comes to Mr. Gibbons, who takes him to Dawson and Dawson turns him over to Mitsuhirato. But with Mr. Wang's help Tintin escapes and goes to Hukow where the ransom is to be paid for Professor Fang. On his way, he saves a orphan boy called Chang from flood water. They become friends very quickly and journey to Hukow together. There a cameraman tries to kill Tintin and Chang saves him. Tintin learns from the cameraman that the ransom letter is a false letter to send police to the wrong trail. Next Tintin goes to Mitsuhirato's house and finds out that they are going to attack Mr. Wang.

It all starts when Tintin tries to help a plane in trouble. The pilots shoot at him and run away. Tintin is hospitalized but starts his investigations as soon as he feels a little better. One day, Pushchov, who is the leader of a gang of forgerers and the person behind the plane incident, recognizes Tintin at a train station. Be boards the same train to try to get Tintin arrested for assault and burglary. After a few times of Thompson twins loosing Tintin and Tintin escaping them, Tintin finds a crashed plane on his way to Eastdown. He looks around for clues and finds a flying jacket with a few pieces of papers in its pocket, from which he figures out his next step. His investigation leads him to Dr. Müller's house where he gets caught in a man-trap. Müller tries to kill him which results in a fight, in the course of which the house catches fire. Müller escapes and Tintin is rescued by the firemen.

Tintin follows Müller and Ivan to Kiltoch. In Kiltoch he gets to know about Black Island where everyone forbids him to go because they think there is a beast there. However, this does not keep Tintin away. He discovers that the Black Island is the forgerers' headquarters. He also discovers that the ""Beast"" is a huge ape called Ranko. On Tintin's notification, the police are able to apprehend the entire gang.

Strange events at Marlin Spike Hall and the kidnapping of Professor Calculus send Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock on a dangerous rescue mission.

Tintin and Haddock set out to rescue Professor Calculus.