Exotic as a tiger lily, Kate Kingsley leaves the familiar harsh beauty of her Kenyan home to set out for London with a sense of adventure and excitement. But far from finding the freedom she longs for, she chafes against the formality of an upper class English household, while the frivolous glamour of 1930s London doesn't offer much scope for Kate's impulsive energy. When she's swpt off her feet by a handsome army officer, marriage seems to promise a form of escape. Then world events combine with personal upheavals to precipitate a crisis. Caught up in the turmoil of pre-war London, then in the horrors of the siege of Malta, Kate needs to draw on all her reserves of courage and resourcefulness.