Following the kidnapping of Professor Calculus in The Seven Crystal Balls, Tintin and his trusty companions, Captain Haddock and Snowy, travel to Peru. With the help of a young local named Zorrino, the three follow Calculus' trail to fin the Temple of the Sun.
After The Seven Crystal Balls set the eerie stage, Tintin and his friends continue their adventures in Peru. There Tintin rescues an orange-seller named Zorrino from being bullied, and the young man becomes their guide in their quest to find the Temple of the Sun. But they find more than they bargained for and end up in a hot spot. The perils of this engaging two-part adventure are especially harrowing in their combination of the supernatural and the real, although the resolution is a little too deus ex machina. Calculus and the Thompsons provide their usual comic relief.