After escaping imprisonment, Pearce is pursued by smugglers seeking revenge and by Ralph Barclay’s efforts to destroy the court-martial evidence. William Pitt then offers him a mission connected with the royalist revolt in the Vendée, promising a ship and a chance to recover the scattered Pelicans.
The operation carries Pearce into a failing rebellion and then to the naval battle of the Glorious First of June. Political ambition, private vengeance and fleet warfare converge as he tries to rescue his friends without surrendering his own freedom.
