In the winter of 1811 the war seems lost All Spain has fallen to the French, except for Cadiz - now the Spanish capital and under seige Wellington and his British army are in Portugal, waiting for spring to spark the war to life again Richard Shapre and his company are part of a small force sent to break a bridge across a river What begins as a brilliant piece of soldiering turns into disaster, thanks to the brutal savagery of the French who are joining the seige of Cadiz Sharpe extricates a handful of men from the debacle and is driven to Cadiz But there he discovers more than one enemy