It is the bitter winter on 1809. Britain's forces are retreating towards Corunna, with Napoleon's victorious armies in pursuit. Lieutenant Richard Sharpe and a detachment of Riflemen are cut off from the British army and surrounded by enemy troops. Sharpes future friend and Sergant Patrick Harper is introduced as well as the core group of the surviving company for the first time. Running along in the background is the other Irishman in the series, the exploring officer and engineer Captain Michael Hogan, who appears for the first time at the very end of the novel.