At the end of 1812, a force of deserters and renegades led by Obadiah Hakeswill seizes a mountain village and takes British and French women hostage. Sharpe is sent to rescue them but discovers that the pass also has military importance to the French. After confronting Hakeswill, he must defend the position against a much larger force attacking from the valley.
The renegades are dangerous because they have stepped outside the normal loyalties of war, while Hakeswill gives the crisis an intensely personal edge for Sharpe. The mountain pass also has strategic value, so the rescue cannot be separated from Wellington’s campaign. A private hatred and a formal military objective collide in the same isolated position.
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