September, 1758: the fortress of Louisbourg lies beaten into the mud on the Cape Breton shore. To consolidate their victory, the British are mopping up pockets of resistance along The Gulf of Saint Lawrence. However, although gravely wounded, New France still has teeth, personified by a ruthless officer who will stop at nothing to prevent the hated anglais from advancing another step.To oppose him is the young, but untried, lieutenant, Josiah Stubb, born in the gutter and raised into the hostile environs of the officers' mess by none other than General Wolfe himself. Deep in the forests of the Gaspé Peninsula, pitted against a fierce enemy who asks for, and gives no, quarter, Josiah is riven with doubts about his own abilities as an officer, with the lives of himself, and the men he commands, hanging in the balance.