When Gervase Frant, Seventh Earl of St Erth, returns at last from Waterloo to his family seat at Stanyon, he enjoys a less than welcoming homecoming.

Only Theo, a cousin even quieter than himself, is there to greet him - and when he meets his stepmother and young half-brother he detects open disappointment that he survived the wars & the dangers of the Lincolnshire countryside are quite different to those of the battlefield.