It is March 1811 and Bolitho is recalled to duty after only two and a half months' peace in Cornwall with his beloved Catherine Promoted to Admiral, his choice of flagship and flag captain shock the Admiralty, but Bolitho, aware of his own vulnerability, surrounds himself only with those men he can trust, and who must confront the sternest test of his loyalty with great personal courage When diplomacy fails the cannon must speak, and Bolitho, patrolling the troubled waters from Antigua to Halifax, knows that when war with America comes he must fight an enemy not foreign but familar