The trials of Christopher Carey as he serves as a lieutenant under Wellington in the Iberian Peninsula.

Young Christopher Carey serves as a lieutenant under Wellington in the Peninsular War. Though often rebellious against the discomforts of a military life, he proves himself a leader of courage and resource, commanding an unswerving loyalty from his men; and in encounters with the French, whether he is launching an attack, protecting life, straggline lines of a retreating English army, or defending a strategic position, he shows himself worthy of his great soldier ancestors. His qualities of leadership do not go unrewarded; and it is his own particular merits that lead to his being chosen for a dangerous special mission to a leader of the Spanish guerillas, the colourful El Empecinado.

Ronald Welch has delved deeply into the military history of the period, and his story is set against a vivid picture of the Napoleonic wars in Spain and the hazards and monotony of the day-to-day life of an infantryman in Wellington's army.