The world's most famous travelling reporter must handle the heat of the Sahara. Faced with a drowned sailor, counterfeit coins and a ship full of opium, Tintin sets out on another adventure. Aboard the Karaboudjan Tintin is introduced to Captain Haddock for the first time, and they are soon both facing a deathly thirst in the Sahara desert.

When Captain Haddock meets a gipsy palm reader, he dismisses a forewarning about a beautiful lady’s stolen jewels. But when the famous opera singer Bianca Castafiore suddenly descends on Marlinspike Hall, the gipsy’s prediction seems to be all too real. Can Tintin catch the emerald thief?

The Arumbaya fetish has been stolen! But with the help of a talking parrot, Tintin is soon on the hunt for the famous artefact, which can be distinguished by its broken ear. He must solve a murder and discover the true value of the fetish, and quick - because he is not the only one on the trail.