It is 1853, and on holiday in Italy, Captain Nicholas Carey is persuaded by his impulsive cousin Andrew to help three Italian revolutionaries avoid capture and escape the Papal States. After returning to England, Nicholas runs his cousin to earth in Paris, where he is still involved with the revolutionaries, and the two foil an assassination attempt on the Emperor, Napoleon III.Rejoining his regiment, Nicholas is sent to fight the Russians with Lord Raglan's army in the Crimea, where he experiences the horrors of a Crimean winter and distinguishes himself in the Battles of Sebastopol and The Redan.